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American opts for eight officials

By Greg Vacek
©2014 Bonesville.net
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The NCAA Football Rules Committee is allowing every Football Bowl Subdivision conference the option to use eight-person officiating crews in 2014. The American Athletic Conference is one of four FBS conferences to follow the Big 12's lead by trying eight officials instead of seven. The Pac-12 opposes the idea, but the SEC, Big Ten and ACC also are using an eighth official in some form this season.

American officiating coordinator Terry McAulay talked about the concept in an interview with CBS Sports in April.

“I've been a big fan of this since it came up in an NFL meeting many years ago when talking about an eighth guy who's in the defensive backfield," he said. "We weren't in favor of that. But in the offensive backfield, for coverage purposes it gives you that triangle (between the referee, umpire and eighth official) working eight to nine players.”

“We have to show we do get better coverage to justify that extra cost of an official,” McAulay added. “Will you maybe get more fouls? Yeah, if they foul that's what's going to happen. I know fans don't like fouls. But if they commit a foul, they commit a foul and it needs to be called. You shouldn't have anybody not seeing anything in this coverage.”

I followed up with McAulay prior to last weekend’s games. So far this season the league has used eight-person officiating crews for all conference games and for Navy contests worked by AAC crews. McAulay assigns umpires or officials with umpire/referee experience for that eighth position. The addition of the extra official provides “enough eyes,” and McAulay said he has been “pleased with better coverage at the line of scrimmage.”

The league has its own officiating crews and does not use a consortium like some conferences do. When evaluating officials, some factors McAulay looks at are athleticism, instincts and positioning. Each official progresses at a different pace as he fine tunes at a higher level of FBS.

The American (and previously the Big East) has had success hiring officials from Colonial/Ivy/Patriot leagues where officiating is considered to be very good. Although those officials are primarily from the Northeast, McAulay said they do have officials from all over the league’s footprint (Texas, Oklahoma, and North Carolina).

Citing games involving high-tempo teams like East Carolina, McAulay acknowledged that crews sometimes face stiff tests.

“It is a challenge," he said. “The speed and pace do not allow much downtime for officials to reset before the next play.”

McAulay noted that game prep for officials includes “a good amount of video review” on the teams they are about to cover.

“They will be ready,” McAulay said of the crew assigned to Saturday's ECU-Southern Methodist game.

Scoreboard watching

Memphis at Cincinnati: East Carolina fans may want to pull for the Bearcats in this one. The Tigers' only losses are to No. 8 UCLA and No. 11 Old Miss. Memphis does not play ECU or Central Florida this year and if it can get by Cincinnati, only Temple may stand in the way of an undefeated conference run for the Tigers.

Marshall at Old Dominion: The first of three games (ODU, Middle Tennessee, Rice) that most likely stand between the Thundering Herd, an undefeated season and possibly the Group of Five major bowl invite.

This week ECU moved up a spot in the polls without even playing. There may be more chances for the No. 22 Pirates to move up this week if they take care of business against SMU. Six games will match ranked teams against each other on Saturday, including three SEC showdowns involving six West Division rivals.

Some games of interest:

     — No. 3 Alabama at No. 11 Mississippi
     — No. 4 Oklahoma at No. 25 TCU
     — No. 15 LSU at No. 5 Auburn
     — No. 6 Texas A&M at No. 12 Mississippi State
     — No. 14 Stanford at No. 9 Notre Dame
     — Arizona State at No. 16 USC
     — No. 17 Wisconsin at Northwestern
     — No. 19 Nebraska at No. 10 Michigan State
     — Texas Tech at No. 23 Kansas State
     — Virginia Tech at North Carolina
     — Utah State at No. 18 BYU (Friday)

E-mail Greg Vacek

PAGE UPDATED 10/03/14 02:58 AM.

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