Report: ACC officiating crew assigned to LSU-Oklahoma game

For bowl games, officiating crews are typically not announced until shortly before kickoff, but according to a report from the officiating blog Football Zebras, an Atlantic Coast Conference crew will work the College Football Playoff semifinal between LSU and Oklahoma in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl Saturday in Atlanta.

The interesting quirk of the assignment is that the referee for the Peach Bowl is Stuart Mullins – who also served as the referee for LSU’s game with UCF in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1. Mullins also was the referee for the Tigers’ 2017 neutral-site season opener against BYU, which was moved days before kickoff from hurricane-ravaged Houston to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

The rest of the crew assigned to the Peach Bowl, according to Football Zebras, includes umpire Jim Hyson, head linesman Art Hardin, line judge Hugh Campbell, field judge Milton Britton, side judge George Liotus, back judge Rob Luklan and center judge Larry Hayes.

Mullins’ crew called a tight game in the Fiesta Bowl last year, with 26 combined penalties for 249 yards. Of the officials reportedly assigned to Atlanta, only Luklan was also part of Mullins’ crew at the Fiesta Bowl.