SPOKANE, Wash. — Coaches, players and media are gathering at the Northern Quest Resort & Casino this week for the annual Big Sky Kickoff. At the same time, another group is also preparing for the upcoming season.
The Big Sky Conference's football officials have convened for their annual clinic, spending several days reviewing mechanics, rules changes and game situations before the first kickoff of the 2026 season.
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For replay officials, the work extends beyond the handful of video reviews fans see on Saturdays.
"The misconception is that the replay official doesn't review every play," Big Sky football officials coordinator Randy Campbell said. "The replay official reviews every single play."
Longtime replay official Vic Winnek, a lawyer in Boise, Idaho, knows that better than most.
Winnek spent nearly four decades as an on-field official before moving to the replay booth in 2019. While many fans only notice replay when a game stops, he says officials are evaluating every snap from the opening kickoff until the final whistle.
"We don't take a play off," Winnek said. "We look at every single play, and it is probably one of the most stressful officiating positions in football."
Replay officials strive not to re-officiate games, Winnek said. Instead, they're determining whether video provides enough evidence to overturn a ruling made on the field.
"We're not officiating. We are evaluating video evidence," Winnek said. "We're really judges up there evaluating evidence that's presented to us. And it has a very, very high standard of indisputable video evidence."
That standard can sometimes produce frustrating outcomes for fans.
"There are times where I know darn well it's an incomplete pass," Winnek said. “But I can't prove it with video evidence."
Speed is another challenge.
With today's up-tempo offenses, replay officials often have only seconds to decide whether play should be stopped before the next snap.
"If you have to go to a third shot in the replay booth, you've messed up," Campbell said. "You've got to make a decision either on the first shot or the second shot."
The numbers show just how rarely replay actually interrupts a game.
During the 2025 season, Big Sky replay crews conducted 87 formal reviews across 68 conference-officiated games, averaging just 1.3 replay stoppages per game. Reviews lasted an average of 1 minute, 28 seconds, while the total game stoppage averaged 1 minute, 55 seconds.
Officials also assisted on 124 plays without stopping the game, helping prevent unnecessary coaches' challenges.
Preparation for those moments begins months before the season.
Officials spend the offseason studying film, attending camps and participating in peer review groups before gathering at the conference clinic for what Winnek called the "fine tuning" before kickoff.
For Winnek, the biggest adjustment from the field to the replay booth wasn't learning new rules but changing how he viewed the job.
"The official on the field is an artist," he said. "The replay official is a scientist and everything is precise. And that's the difference."
By the Numbers: Big Sky Football Replay in 2025
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68 Big Sky-officiated games
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87 formal replay reviews
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48 overturned rulings
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39 upheld rulings
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1.3 replay stoppages per game
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1:28 average replay review
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1:55 average total game stoppage
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124 replay-assisted plays that helped avoid coaches' challenges
