Joe Paterno may have finally received his 77th birthday gift -- a gift he's wanted for years.

After seasons of grips and conflict with the officials, the Penn State football coach will have an extra set of eyes watching over Beaver Stadium this season.

The NCAA announced yesterday that it has approved the Big Ten's request to use instant replay in football games for the 2004 season. The Div. I Championship/Competition Cabinet endorsed the Big Ten's recommendation that will take effect in all 44 conference games and 22 nonconference games played in Big Ten stadiums.

The Big Ten is the first football conference to have a replay system in place. If successful, the system could be adopted by the NCAA for all televised football games.

While Paterno is not expected to return to State College until Monday, Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley said he is excited with the decision.

"We are pleased the Big Ten's instant replay plan has been approved," Curley said. "We look forward to working with the Big Ten and all the conference institutions on implementing the best system possible."

Big Ten spokeswoman Sue Lister said the conference would not comment until after the basketball season.

Big Ten supervisor of officials Dave Parry told USA Today that the use of instant replay is an attempt to benefit all of college football.

"We're just trying to be proactive here," Parry said. "And maybe take a step to see if we can do something that would help not only us, but others."

One change between this system and the current one in the NFL is that coaches will not be able to initiate their own challenges.

Rather, the Big Ten will have a representative in the press box during games. That representative will be the only person able to stop play and initiate a review if the officiating crew makes a questionable call.

"We don't want an NFL-type of replay," Curley said earlier this month.

Another contrast to the NFL system is that the referee will not be the person to review the call on the field. That will be done by the Big Ten representative who stops play for the review.

Last season, the Big Ten reviewed potentially questionable calls, but play was never stopped. Instead, representatives charted the plays and noted that of the nearly 11,000 plays, about 50 would have been subject to review. Of those 50, Parry said 30 at most would have been overturned.

In nonconference games, the replay system will be used according to the visiting schools' policies.

Over the past two seasons, Paterno has harped back to calls in the Iowa and Michigan games that he felt went against his team. Penn State lost both of those games.

He has publicly asked for a review of the system.

"Even a year ago, when we ended up in a New Year's Day bowl and the couple of games that we could have won might have put us in a BCS Bowl," Paterno said at last week's press conference announcing the hiring of Galen Hall. "Nobody wants to continue to hear me say that, but I think that we would have just sat back and said 'hey, we've got to straighten out some things, we've got to do this a little better, do that a little better.' "

Paterno will now receive his wish.