ACC and Big 12 officiating crews draw the Semifinal assignments

Football Zebras exclusive

With the expanded playoffs this year, a new system of assigning officiating crews had to be devised. All bowl games have a restriction that the officiating crew can not be from the same conference as either of the participating schools. That made assigning semifinal games in advance impossible, because of all of the different combinations of outcomes.

Just as what is done in the playoffs for Division III, Division II, and the Football Championship Subdivision, playoff crews earn the right to advance to the later rounds based on performance, with the caveat that there won’t be conference conflicts.

All playoff games in the bowl subdivision are officiated by Power conference crews — ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC. Crews in the first round and the quarterfinal bowl games would be eligible for the Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, and the National Championship Game. All crews assignments are made in coordination with the College Football Playoff administration.

“That process has worked well,” national coordinator of officiating Steve Shaw said, referring to the FCS playoffs in a preseason memo. “I look forward to implementing this process for the CFP.”

The semifinal games have been assigned to crews out of the ACC for the Cotton Bowl and the Big 12 for the Orange Bowl. The ACC crew is headed by Round 1 (Tennessee-Ohio State) referee Jerry Magallanes, but the crew is split from that game and the one that worked the Rose Bowl. The Big 12 crew is the same as the Sugar Bowl crew, helmed by referee Michael Vandervelde. (A different alternate official was assigned, however.)

The crew for the National Championship Game has not been assigned — which was expected to be released now — and presumably will be finalized after the semifinal games. Presumably, since this is the first time this has been done, and not everyone we talked to is familiar with the process.

Orange Bowl

⁷Notre Dame vs. ⁶Penn State

Hard Rock Stadium – Miami | Thursday, Jan. 9 | 7:30 p.m. ET ESPN ESPN+

Cotton Bowl Classic

⁸Ohio State vs. ⁵Texas

AT&T Stadium – Arlington, Texas | Friday, Jan. 10 | 7:30 p.m. ET ESPN ESPN+

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