Published October 27, 2026 10:58 AM
During much of his time in the NFL, Bill Belichick called for the NFL to spend the money necessary to install cameras that would make it easier to review plays. In his second season as a college coach, Belichick is banging that same drum.
Via Brian Murphy of WRAL, Belichick wants the ACC to add cameras at the goal line and along the sidelines to assist the replay officials.
The issue is particularly relevant because Belichick’s North Carolina team lost to Syracuse on a controversial all-or-nothing two-point play in overtime. The ruling on the field was that Syracuse had successfully earned the decisive two points. The call was upheld via the available replay angles.
“If he scored he scored,” Belichick said Monday. “If he didn’t score, he didn’t score. Just put a camera there and get it right. That’s what I’m for. But based on what was called on the field, the views that the officials had, I don’t know how you could possibly overturn it. The view was from a long, long way away.”
At both the college and pro level, replay overturns the real-time ruling only if there is clear and obvious evidence to the contrary.
“From what the officials had to work with, it would be hard to tell,” Belichick said of the game-deciding play. “I think from what the fans showed — they had some good footage of it — that there are different views there that the officials in Charlotte, the headquarters there where they looked at reviews of the game, they didn’t have those films. So the answer to the question is to put goal line and sideline cameras on the lines so that you have a good look at those plays.”
More official cameras would increase the chances of getting a decisive look.
“The ACC doesn’t have goalline cameras,” Belichick said. “They don’t have sideline cameras, like the other conferences do, and that’s something that I’ve always advocated when I was in the NFL for 20 years — sideline cameras, end zone cameras, like in tennis. Put on the sideline, put on the goal line, put on the end line. Those are the scoring [views], especially in college football, where you have the overtime rule, which is going to put you in the red zone. . . .
“All the other conferences have them. The ACC doesn’t have them. I’m not sure why, but we’ve talked about that in league meetings. But for some reason, we don’t have them, and I think it would be good for the game to get a definitive look at every play like that.”
He’s right. Too much rides on these games to pinch pennies when it comes to the replay function. It’s only as good as what the video evidence reveals. More video evidence is always better.
In the years since Belichick was fired by the Patriots, the NFL has implemented a Hawk-Eye system of stationary cameras in all stadiums that provides angles not provided by the TV broadcast, which has more or fewer cameras based on the window.