2024-25 bowl games
ACC and Big 12 officiating crews draw the Semifinal assignments
Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl crews are set
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+
| Officials | Big 12 | |
|---|---|---|
| R | Michael Vandervelde | ═★═ MDP PRO CC SUGAR |
| U | Sheldon Davis | ★ CC SUGAR |
| H | John Braun | ★ MDP PRO CC SUGAR |
| L | Keith Garmond | ═★═ CC SUGAR |
| F | Joseph Martinez | ★ PRO CC SUGAR |
| S | JB Garza | ★ CC SUGAR |
| B | Daniel Young | ═★═ MDP CC |
| C | Marvel July | ═★═ CC SUGAR |
| ALT | Tuta Salaam | MDP PRO RELIAQUEST |
| RO | Brad Van Vark | ═★═ CC SUGAR |
| CO | Jeff Yock | ═★═ CC SUGAR |
Cotton Bowl Classic
⁸Ohio State vs. ⁵Texas
AT&T Stadium – Arlington, Texas | Friday, Jan. 10 | 7:30 p.m. ET ESPN ESPN+
| Officials | ACC | |
|---|---|---|
| R | Jerry Magallanes | ★ FR CFP |
| U | Johnnie Forte | CC ROSE |
| H | Darryl Johnson | ═★═ CC FR CFP |
| L | Alex Amaya | ★ FR CFP |
| F | Hugh Brown | ★ CC ROSE |
| S | Brian McGready | FR CFP |
| B | Frederick Dimpfel | ★ PRO CC ROSE |
| C | Anthony Calabrese | ★ FR CFP |
| ALT | Marcus Woods | ═★═ MDP FR CFP |
| RO | Bill Scott | ★ROSE |
| CO | Frank Overcash | ROSE |
- ═★═ 2023-24 New Year’s Six or National Championship Game official
- ★ 2023-24 bowl game official
- MDP Mackie Development Program official, the NFL’s development and training pipeline
- PRO XFL, USFL, or UFL official (2022-24)
- BOWL CC 2024 playoff assignment and conference championship assignment
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Anonymous
January 3, 2025 at 9:12 pm
Why would they put the Big 12 crew on the Orange Bowl when they just did Notre Dame last week? Seems odd.
Jim
January 3, 2025 at 9:16 pm
Text of the article says Big 12 has Cotton and ACC has Orange, but the charts listing the crews has the opposite games.
Alex
January 3, 2025 at 10:22 pm
I would assume the reason for using the Big 12 on ND-PSU is that the SEC and Big Ten are first in line for the title game (SEC getting it if Texas loses, Big Ten getting it if both OSU and PSU lose). They wanted to ensure the Big 12 got a game (since it has no teams left) and thus it was the only option. But certainly odd that the same crew will have ND twice in a week.
Unpopular opinion, but why do we have to keep crews together by conference? Shaw’s big thing is “one CFO” and if all the leagues are using the same mechanics manual as they are supposed to, why can’t a crew contain officials from multiple leagues? Then all this nonsense about having “neutral” crews (a phenomenon that we know is unique to football only, if you follow the NCAA basketball tournament) can go away.
Of course, conference-specific officiating programs/oversight need to be eliminated period, but I suppose that’s a discussion for another day.
Anonymous
January 4, 2025 at 8:49 am
both crews are excellent in theses important games!
Anonymous
January 10, 2025 at 6:13 pm
A bigger issue is having officials that have already called a game for either team during the “playoffs” calling another game for that team. There are more than enough qualified officials to not ever have one call a team a second time. Also even though the “crew” system is good for officials, if they are the “best” then calling with new people is not a big issue. They ALL know their position and what they are doing. Also the CREW will follow the lead of the White Hat (Ref) and call more in line with how he thinks calls should be made, like holding, DPI, etc. The other issue is the politics in selecting who actually gets a game. Most fans would be shocked about how much “who you know” goes into getting one of these games. Yes been there done that at the High School Level and it doesn’t change the higher up you get.
David Steinle
January 10, 2025 at 11:14 pm
SEC gets the championship game for the first time in the CFP era!
Alex
January 10, 2025 at 11:15 pm
The last time an SEC crew worked the champ game was January 4, 2005 in the Orange Bowl. Steve Shaw was the R. Over twenty years.