



BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- The Pac-12 Conference will officiate the BCS Championship Game between Alabama and Notre Dame, national officiating coordinator Rogers Redding said today.

Officials from the six automatic-qualifying conferences work BCS bowls on a rotation. The Big 12 officiated last year's BCS Championship Game so it won't work any of the five BCS bowls this season. Officials get recommended by their conference coordinator to work bowl games and can't be assigned to any game involving a team from the conference they represent.

Because of the SEC's seven-year streak in the national championship game, SEC officials have not worked the title game since USC-Oklahoma in the 2004 season. The SEC will officiate the next championship game not involving the SEC.

Pac-12 officials were involved in a high-profile controversy this season over a goal-line call that went Notre Dame's way at the end of its victory against Stanford.

Mike Pereira, the former vice president of officiating for the NFL, posted on Twitter that he believed Stanford should have been awarded a touchdown on that final play. Pac-12 officials worked the Notre Dame-Stanford game on the field, and the Big East handled instant replay.

Pac-12 officials are the most whistle-happy in college football this season. Five Pac-12 teams ranked among the most-penalized teams in the country, and 11 of the league's 12 schools were in the upper half for most penalties.

Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott addressed the high rate of penalty calls during a Q&A in late November on the Pac-12 web site.

"It's come up a lot this year and I've asked our head of football operations and head of officiating to, once the season is over, do a comparative study," Scott said. "I'd like a thoughtful answer to that question. I suspect that it may have something to do with the style of play and number of plays that get run. There's certain things about West Coast football that is very exciting with the pace and number of plays. It's something that we'll look at more thoroughly."

Alabama is the sixth least-penalized team in the country at 3.85 per game. Notre Dame ranks tied for 52nd at 5.67 per game.

Here are the officiating assignments by conference for all 35 bowl games. Names of officials are typically not released publicly until the day of the game.

ACC: Fiesta, New Mexico, Little Caesars, Cotton

Big East: Rose, Independence, Outback

Big Ten: Sugar, Military, Sun, Chick-fil-A, GoDaddy.com

Big 12: Gator, Capital One, Russell Athletic, BBVA Compass

Conference USA: Las Vegas, Holiday

MAC: Poinsettia, Meineke Car Care, Music City

Mountain West: Kraft Fight Hunger, Liberty, Famous Idaho Potato

Pac-12: BCS Championship, Pinstripe, Heart of Dallas, Buffalo Wild Wings

SEC: Orange, Belk, Armed Forces, Alamo

Sun Belt: Beef 'O' Brady's

WAC: New Orleans, Hawaii

E-mail:

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