Following a unanimous vote of the league’s athletics directors and approval by the SEC Executive Committee, the SEC has approved a new “collaborative” replay system, much like ACC, where command center assists in-stadium officials.

“Our goal is to continue to use the best-available resources to support correct outcomes when instant replay is used,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey in a statement. “We believe the collaborative effort, which will involve additional officiating experts during replay reviews, will enhance the Conference’s football officiating program. I believe this update to the instant replay review process will better support football officiating in the SEC through the use of technology.”

The NCAA Football Rules Committee approved a request submitted by the SEC to allow conferences to use a collaborative process for instant replay on an experimental basis back in February. Under this experiment, personnel operating from SEC Headquarters will assist the in-stadium Instant Replay Officials when replay decisions are made.

“This is an important and positive step for our officiating program and I look forward to implementing our plan to combine advanced technology with officiating expertise,” said Steve Shaw, the SEC’s Coordinator of Football Officials. “Our successful test in the spring gave us the comfort level to move forward with execution of the plan for this fall. I look forward to communicating with my colleagues in other conferences to discuss best practices and the most effective use of collaborative replay.”