Known for brashness and occasional hyperbole, Arkansas coach Bret Bielema didn't feel he was overstating the importance of what he believes will be "one of the greatest game changers in college football history."
Beginning in 2017, college football teams will be able to review game video from electronic devices in the press box and locker room during games.
While the NFL, which enters the third of a five-year sponsorship deal with Microsoft worth a reported $400 million that equips all 32 teams with Surface Pro tablets on the sideline and in the coaches' box, will allow the use of video replay on the sideline during the preseason this year and Major League Baseball has a multi-year deal for the use of iPads in dugouts, the NCAA has been sorely behind when it comes to in-game technology.
"I sat on (the NCAA Football) Rules Committee five years ago and I listened to the national high school director talk about their use of computers in high school game," Bielema said. "We're still using Etch A Sketch."
Because this is the NCAA even a massive, albeit late, step forward can't come without problems.
In February, the NCAA Football Rules Committee approved a proposal to allow electronic devices to be used for coaching purposes in the press box and locker room, but not on the sideline like in the NFL, during games beginning this fall. That proposal was approved a month later by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel, which in April, chose to delay implementation until 2017 after feedback from conference commissioners as to guidelines for consistency, cost and other issues.
"I think that's part of the reason that the brakes were applied," SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said earlier this month. "To say, 'Let's figure out exactly what might be implemented and how it can be implemented on an appropriately consistent basis.'"
