Coming off Convention meetings during which various governance groups hinted at possible structure changes in Division I football, the Division I Football Issues Committee is making it clear that it wants to play an active role in those discussions. Meeting January 12-13 in Louisville, Kentucky, members agreed to forward a set of recommendations to the Division I Board of Directors.

The recommendations include:

• Division I-A football teams should be permitted to count one victory per year against qualified I-AA teams for I-A bowl eligibility. This eliminates the current "one in four" requirement that allows I-A teams to count qualified I-AA teams only once every four years. A qualified I-AA team will have provided an average of 90 percent of the maximum number of financial aid equivalencies during the three preceding years. That qualification is in line with the policy in I-A, which requires a 90 percent average over the previous two years. Dooley said this elimination was "best for all concerned at this time" because it would help I-AA teams secure competition and might stabilize the classifications.

• A Division I-A football team should be permitted to count a home game against a qualified I-AA football team once a year toward the five-home-game requirement. That recommendation would help both sides by providing the I-AA team with a guaranteed game and helping those I-A teams that are struggling to get a fifth home game.

• Initiatives to enhance the I-AA football championship experience and corresponding budget requests should be supported. The Football Issues Committee deferred any specific recommendations in this category to the Division I-AA Football Committee.

• Consider eliminating the I-A and I-AA classification names in favor of different designations that offer a more accurate portrayal of the subdivision's attributes and assets. Committee Chair Vincent Dooley, former athletics director at the University of Georgia, said the group declined to offer specific recommendations for new names because it believed the issue should be given significant thought.

The recommendations are in response to a Board of Directors challenge to modify membership criteria in Division I-A, specifically a requirement that I-A programs average 15,000 fans at home football games to maintain membership at that level, and at the same time enhance the I-AA experience.

In April, the Board is expected to discuss legislation that will eliminate or modify the requirement and make enhancements to I-AA.

Instant replay

The committee also heard a presentation on the instant replay pilot program in the Big Ten Conference from the conference's supervisor of officials, Dave Parry. Instant replay was used in 2004 for the first time in televised Big Ten football games, and the presentation indicated that the experiment was positive and the system has merit for future use. Instant replay was used in 28 of the 57 games in which it was available. The average game length increased only three minutes from the 2003 season to the 2004 season.

Dooley said the committee's reaction was generally positive. Personally, he has high hopes for the future of instant replay in collegiate football.

"It had a tempering effect sometimes on the fans who felt like at least they had a hearing, even if it didn't end up going their way," he said. "There were some examples of that, and it cut down a lot on the criticism that came from fans who felt that they got a bad call. I think that is very positive, in addition to being able to get it right."

Officials said the Big Ten hopes to continue to experiment with instant replay in 2005 and noted that several other conferences have requested that they be included in the testing phase as well.

Committee members expressed concern that any expansion of instant replay should include inter-conference consistency as to methodology and application. Dooley said he likes the concept of keeping the coaches out of the process, with experienced officials and a few assistants reviewing any questionable calls. The future of the system will be a topic at the Football Rules Committee meeting February 6-9 in Fort Myers, Florida.

Other issues

The Football Issues Committee met at the same location as the annual American Football Coaches Association convention, and AFCA Executive Director Grant Teaff provided the committee with an update of AFCA issues. Teaff said the group continues to support the proposal to permit five seasons of eligibility in football, even though the legislation was withdrawn by its sponsor, the Atlantic Coast Conference, before it could be initially considered by the Division I Management Council earlier this month.

The Football Issues Committee agreed to partner with Teaff and the AFCA to create a task force and explore recruiting issues at length. Dooley said coaches were concerned that "street agents" might have access to prospective student-athletes at events such as combines.

"There's a concern that football might be headed down the same road that basketball has gone down on summer camps and AAU and those kinds of issues," Dooley said. "This task force will explore that and if it is the case, members will see what can be done about it."