NEW ORLEANS - Instant replay will be a reality in Sun Belt Conference football games this fall, just as it will in all Division I-A leagues.

This year, though, everyone will be using the same replay rules, unlike the last two seasons where leagues experimented with different formats.

"It's the same for everybody now," said Don Lucas, Sun Belt supervisor of football officials. "It's standard and in the rule book now."

Lucas gave a presentation on rules changes for the 2006 fall season at the Sun Belt's annual Media Day activities Tuesday, and most of the presentation concerned the installation of the replay format. The NCAA rules committee approved the use of replay at its February meeting.

League officials used a prototype replay system at three University of Louisiana and North Texas games last year, but it was on a trial basis for information gathering only and never affected game action. UL and UNT already had cameras in place for scoreboard replays.

"We found out very quickly that didn't work," commissioner Wright Waters said. "The last thing we needed was people trying to look at replays while the scoreboard screens were flashing 'make some noise.' "

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com