Mark Mangino knows where not to go for advice.

When mulling whether to exercise a coach’s challenge requesting instant-replay review of a disputed call, Kansas University’s fifth-year football coach tries to avoid going straight to the source of the controversy: the player.

“No, because the kids are so excited,” Mangino said with a grin. “They’re going to tell you they caught the ball if they scoop it up with a first-baseman’s mitt.”

Fortunately for Mangino and every other college football coach, there are eyes in the sky who can think with their heads instead of their hearts.

Mangino has yet to take advantage of a new rule implemented in 2006 which allows the head coach one opportunity per game to request a replay review on a controversial ruling.

Part of that is because a replay official in the press box is always looking to review calls himself, and every time so far, he has beaten Mangino to the buzzer.

“Twice, I went to the officials about challenging a play Saturday night,” Mangino said. “I tried to stall as long as I could, and then I finally said, ‘I want to challenge it,’ and he said, ‘I just got buzzed, you don’t have to waste your challenge. They’re going to look at it.'”

The replay official’s aggressiveness has lightened the stress on Mangino and other coaches in similar situations. Coach’s challenges come with a significant risk – not only do coaches get just one per game, but if a challenged ruling is not reversed, the challenging team is charged a timeout, which can be costly depending on how the game plays out.

“The Big East crew was here, and they did a nice job of managing that,” Mangino said of Saturday’s game against South Florida, “and I thought the Big 12 officials that we’ve had have really tried to help the coaches out in these situations.

“They have bent over backwards to try to take some of the pressure off the decision-making for the coach.”

Mangino said that being on the sidelines sometimes means having the “worst seat in the house” for figuring out if a call was correct. So he consults with assistant coaches upstairs communicating through his headset. Knowing what’s at stake for making a challenge, they likely will provide a more honest answer than a player would.

One example popped up during the Sept. 15 game at Toledo. KU linebacker Eric Washington hit Toledo running back Richard Davis at the Kansas one-yard line, and there was uncertainty as to whether Davis got the ball over the goal line before his knee hit the ground on the fourth-down play. Mangino asked his assistants upstairs if it was worth challenging, and his aides concluded that it probably wasn’t.

Considering that the right to challenge is eliminated once the football is snapped to start the next play, KU’s coaches have to decide quickly – and make sure they’re not wrong.

“You’ve got to rely on your staff, your own eyes and what you can see,” Mangino said. “If you can, sneak a peek up at the video board if that guy is moving quickly up there.

“But it’s hard to rely on the players. They’ve got adrenaline flowing.”