Who is the Penn State-Notre Dame referee, and what conference is the crew from?
A pair of all-star officiating crews from the SEC conference have been on the call for the first two Penn State College Football Playoff games this season. Notre Dame, meanwhile, has had back-to-back Big 12 crews for its two wins. Where will the officials be from when the teams meet on Thursday in a CFP semifinal at the Orange Bowl (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)?
Michael Vandervelde will be the head referee, according to Football Zebras. He is from the Big 12 conference. His crew called the Sugar Bowl between the Fighting Irish and Georgia. There were 15 accepted penalties in that contest, including one for sideline interference with a referee against the Bulldogs that wiped out a big gain.
“They said a coach but I think it was a player, from what I’ve been told — in the white [part of the sideline], and the white is reserved for the officials,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said about the call. “That’s a safety concern. Most of the time, they’ll grant you a warning on that; but it was not a — it was a situation where it cost us 15 yards. We still had first and ten and didn’t take advantage of it.
“But, again, I call those things undisciplined, self-imposed wounds that you lose momentum on. So, it’s just something you can’t have happen.”
A former baseball player at Hope College, Vandervelde has been a Division I referee since 2013 and is a Michigan native.
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More: What did Penn State players say about the Notre Dame defense on Saturday before the Orange Bowl?
“The best referees that I’ve been around are the ones that are in control of the game, that have that command, that have that presence,” FOX NFL officiating analyst Dean Blandino told the XFL’s official website last year. Vandervelde officiates in that league, as well.
“He has that. Sometimes football can get a little out of whack and crazy things can happen. He just seems to handle it really well.”
Penn State meets Notre Dame for the first time since 2007. Both sides hope that the officials do not have a huge say in the outcome. That will be somewhat up to each team, of course. And, each has had their issues with penalties this season. According to CFB Stats, the Nittany Lions are 66th in penalty yardage per game (50.6) and 80th in total penalties this year (80). The Fighting Irish, meanwhile, check in at No. 82 with 53.9 and No. 98 in total penalties with 86, respectively.
