to review the previous play, it will take the signal longer to travel from HQ to the field than it takes to travel from the press box to the field. Under the current system, I think it takes about 5 seconds or so for the signal to reach the official and the official to stop the game. At least it helps explain why you sometimes see an official blow the current play dead a few seconds after the ball has been snapped.

I am not sure what method the ACC and SEC plan to use or the amount of lag time that is associated with each stadium. It may take the signal longer than 5 seconds to just go from HQ to whatever stadium. I am not sure the ACC or SEC want their review officials to get into the habit of buzzing the ref while the play is still ongoing which could easily happen to compensate for the additional lag time. Hence why I thought you might start to see more plays blown dead after they developed more than before. Buzzing while the play is still ongoing can be just as disruptive to the flow of the game because the ref will have to stop after the play is over to see if HQ still wants to review the play or not. In addition to the limitations in technology, the additional lag time may expose the limitations in the human body to process information quickly in order to make a decision and execute that decision (aka buzz the ref).

The first year will definitely be interesting to see how things play out and what bugs are exposed with this new method.