Instant replay and the transfer portal.

On the surface, both concepts made perfect sense to enhance the worlds of professional and college football, respectively.

Why should games be impacted by a wrong officiating call when we have instant replay at our disposal to correct? Makes sense.

If college coaches can leave on a whim to take another job, regardless of contract status, why shouldn’t players have the right to move on to greener pastures as well? That makes sense as well.

Problem is, both of these systems are being misused and are affecting the sport in a negative way.

Instant replay in pro football ... Why do coaches have to carry around a red flag and toss it when they want to challenge a play? Why should coaches even have to worry about such a thing? Their job is to coach, not correct officials’ errors.

When is a catch a catch? What constitutes possession? Why can’t penalty calls be changed by replay? Why does it take so long for officials to review a play? If it’s not obviously wrong, it’s not wrong.

Take the red flag away from the coaches. Have an official upstairs looking at every replay. If he sees a clear error — including a missed penalty call — he buzzes down to the referee and they correct it.

Immediately. Again, it has to be an obvious error. Otherwise, play on.

The transfer portal was a good idea at first. Now that system is being totally abused.

Far too many players are entering the portal these days. It is free agency at the college level. NIL is factoring in as well.

A lot of players aren’t changing schools for a better opportunity on the field. They are leaving for the prospective NIL dollars. Some may have a certain figure guaranteed to them before they make the move.

That wasn’t the original intent of the portal. But that’s what it has become at the Division 1 level.

The portal may be making an even bigger impact at Division II.

While a number of Division 1 players still transfer down to Division 2, more and more Division 2 players are just moving on to better Division 2 programs. Slippery Rock has been one of the beneficiaries that way in recent years.

While that’s great for Division 2 teams with the reputation for winning — SRU, Indiana (Pa.) and California (Pa.) in the PSAC West, for example — it’s not so good for Division 2 teams trying to build a winning program.

In many cases, standout young players in those programs may not be willing to stick around. Why hope your current school will develop into a winner when you can move on to a school that’s already a winner?

Ideas can be good when first implemented. Eventually, those ideas can do damage to the very game they were originally designed to help.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle