LSU coach Brian Kelly: 'Instant replay is ruining the game'

LSU football head coach Brian Kelly isn't a fan of instant replay in college football. In fact, he thinks so strongly about the matter that he recently said that instant replay is actually ruining college football.

He, of course, has some reason to complain.

ESPN reports that LSU's last game against Florida, a 45-35 win for the Tigers, was stopped at least five times for instant replay stoppages. On one of those plays, a sack and fumble caused by LSU linebacker Harold Perkins was reversed because Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson's arm was apparently moving forward -- turning that play into an incomplete pass.

Needless to say, that was a reversal Kelly didn't agree with.

 "Here's how it was explained to us: If you break it down to the millisecond by a frame, his hand is slightly moving forward by a frame," Kelly said, per ESPN. "So, if we're going to get to that level, it's amazing. Like, instant replay is ruining the game."

Instant replay has righted a ton of wrongs throughout all the major sports, but for football purposes, Kelly is right that it can get a bit "amazing", and not in a good way. Frankly, it can be ridiculous sometimes, because slowing the playdown frame-by-frame tends to make things look different than what they really were.

In a "bang-bang" sport, instant replay can sometimes take the "realness" out of a play. For instance, almost every hit on a quarterback or receiver looks malicious when it's slowed down and zoomed in on. The NFL, in particular, deals with this issue with receivers catching the ball and "having possession". Every catch has a bit of wiggle on it when you zoom it down to the millisecond.

So, what is a catch? And why does a play that looks like a legit catch to the naked eye all of a sudden come back incomplete upon further review?

Ultimately, though he was unhappy with the call from this past game, Kelly seems to think it's a game-flow thing.

"My biggest concern is that we're just slowing the game down," Kelly said earlier in the week. "Look, we've got to pay the bills, I get it. It's four [hours], three, four, three, with timeouts. That's not going away, or we're going to be obviously not paying anybody anything.

"But to stop the game for so many reviews and most of them to be 'the play stands as called,' it just takes away the flow of the game. Hopefully, it's something that we can look at at the end of the season. Maybe it can be instant replay on scoring plays only or change of possession. And then, if you feel like it's egregious, throw your red flag out there."