The 2012 BCS National Championship game features a match up between two SEC teams in the LSU Tigers and the Alabama Crimson Tide. Oddly enough however, the game will not be umpired by SEC officials despite the match up being between two SEC teams.
Rogers Redding, the National Coordinator of Football Officials explains the reasoning to ESPN's Ivan Maisel:
"The guidelines for bowl-game officiating, which includes the championship game, do not anticipate the possibility of both teams being from the same conference," Redding said in an email reply. "Thus they are silent on the issue, and hence are open to interpretation.
"The guidelines consistently call for ‘neutral crews,' which is defined as crews from a conference different from those of the participants in the game. I am interpreting that literally in this case, so the crew officiating the game will not be from the SEC."
So while technically not "neutral", whichever crew officiates the game will need to adjust to the two teams rather than already being a bit familiar with them.
For more on each bowl game pairing, check out SB Nation's college football bowl game. For more on this game, visit Alabama blog Roll Bama Roll, LSU blog And The Valley Shook, SEC blog Team Speed Kills as well as SB Nation's college football news hub.
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