Tech Alters View From College Football Sidelines This Season

Mississippi football coach Lane Kiffin was initially against it. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney is looking forward to it. Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham thinks “it’s like cheating.” And Georgia quarterback Carson Beck? He would have liked to have had it last year.

The NCAA, for the first time, is letting teams use digital tablets to replay in-game footage on the sidelines this season, and despite the differing opinions, there’s a universal consensus: The new tech could have a real impact on Saturdays.

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Players and coaches alike agreed that their game plans will likely have to become more complicated—or risk being totally dissected. No more bringing the same couple blitzes on third down, for instance. Assistants, meanwhile, will have to figure out how best to utilize their new teaching tools. Quickly.

In April, the NCAA approved new tech rules allowing for coach-to-player radio communications as well as up to 18 active tablets for use in the coaching booth, sideline and locker-room areas. Unlike the NFL, where only still images are accessible, college teams will be able to view video from sideline, end zone and broadcast camera feeds. However, they won’t be able to view previous scouting data and player analytics.

Some teams tested versions of the tech during bowl games last year, but most are going to still be figuring things out past this Saturday’s season kickoff.

Once the rules were passed, conferences lined up their own sets of partners. Several have followed the NFL’s lead by adding Microsoft Surface devices, while the ACC, Big Ten and SEC have gone with Apple’s iPad product line. On screen, multiple leagues are using DVSport Rewind technology to power the devices. The SEC, however, has tapped Catapult, a performance analytics platform already used by most powerhouse programs (and NFL teams) for player assessments in practice.

“95% of Division I … teams use our solution to manage coaches’ video six days a week,” Catapult chief product officer Matt Bairos said. “The seventh day was really missing.”

Here’s how the SEC’s system works. Video will be distributed from a central hub onto two private networks, one for each team. Catapult has hired nearly 50 gameday technicians (three per venue) to help implement the procedure.

Plays are cut up and tagged to be reviewed based on situation, helping coaches on the sideline to pull up the right set of clips to show players. Assistants in the booth can further flag specific moments for sideline discussion, and Apple Pencils will be available for telestration. System speed was a priority, Bairos said, ensuring plays are quickly chopped and sent to coaches, where they can break down the details with players.

Former Temple, Boston College and Colorado State head coach Steve Addazio—now an ESPN analyst—has long been in favor of adding the tech.

“I love it,” he said. “When I was active in this stuff, that’s what I know I wanted the most.”

In the past, Addazio was forced to rely on assistants upstairs to tell him what they saw. “As you go through each play, trying to draw it on a grease board and trying to basically reconstruct it—every time you did that, there was error.”

And he has no concerns about coaches and players picking up a new workflow. “It’s just easy,” Addazio said. “You’re just watching the replays.”

The iPads feature a new, “nano-texture glass” screen (typically a $100 upgrade option) for increased visibility in the Southern sun, and they’ll be stored in custom-built carts similarly adapted for hot environments. Post-game, the sliced-up footage can be immediately distributed to coaches and players with additional notes, grades and subjective information. Medical personnel will also have in-game access to help identify and treat injuries.

LSU was among the schools testing the system last season during its 35-31 ReliaQuest Bowl victory over Wisconsin.

“The real-time video provided by Catapult enabled our coaching staff to make better decisions throughout the game and communicate these decisions to our players,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said in a statement.

Over time, more data is likely to be included in the system, such as player wearable metrics and specific play calls. As that happens, Bairos anticipates the video staff—once focused on camera operations and VCR tuning—coming closer to the traditional coaching staff. It’s not hard to imagine Madden-like fatigue measurements and opponent weak spot charts popping up on the coaching iPads of tomorrow.

Coaches’ booths might not completely turn into Formula 1 garages, where a million data points per second are transmitted back to the pits, and artificial intelligence is informing strategic decisions. But it’s hard to envision college football turning back, either.

“I think it just continues to make the game that much more interesting and exciting and challenging,” Bairos said.

Now it’s on the coaches to keep up.

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