Bret Bielema: Auburn/Arkansas won't have eight-man officiating crew

AUBURN, Ala. — This year is one of experimentation for Southeastern Conference officiating crews. There are nine different crews in the SEC; only one, however, includes eight officials, led by Matt Loeffler. Normally, the conference does not make its officiating assignments public prior to the game.

But according to Arkansas coach Bret Bielema, the eight-man crew will not be in Auburn when his team opens the season versus the defending SEC champions Saturday.

"Everything that I've been told, we're not going to have the eight-man crew for our game there," Bielema said during his appearance on the SEC coaches teleconference Wednesday. "Safe to be said that we were told, at some point, every team will have that crew in effect."

Trying out an eight-man crew helps the SEC join the Big 12, which experimented with it last year and approved their use for the 2014 season.

The eighth official is called the "center judge" and lines up in the offensive backfield opposite the referee. The center judge also is in charge of spotting the ball. (In games with seven officials, this duty falls to the umpire.) That specific aspect was one of the hottest topics of the college football offseason: How quickly should teams be allowed to line up and snap the ball between plays? And how much say — if any — should officials have in regulating the pace of play?

After much discussion, officials coordinators around the country came up with a guideline of a "crisp jog," which Steve Shaw explained at SEC media days.

"When the play is dead, the umpire or the person spotting the ball, you will not walk and you will not sprint. We're calling it a 'crisp jog.' We're trying to get all of our umpires on the same page on a crisp jog," said Shaw, the SEC's coordinator of officials. "We won't just throw the ball down. We'll get a spot. We'll check the referee. If there's substitutions, we'll hold the ball. No substitutions, he'll release them, release the ball, then the offense can snap it. I think what you're going to see is very consistent work nationally."

Bielema, a noted opponent of hurry-up, no-huddle offenses like Auburn runs, had little to say about the "crisp jog" directive.

He just expects every person taking part in Saturday's game — the players and coaches on both teams plus the officials — to do their jobs.

"As far as pace of play, that's up to the NCAA rules. We're excited about the opportunity to play an up-tempo team, " he said. "I think it's a really neat to have teams with different philosophies in college football. As far as the officials on gameday, players play, coaches coach and officials officiate. I'm sure everybody will do a great job at all three."

This story was originally published August 27, 2014 at 4:16 PM with the headline "Bret Bielema: Auburn/Arkansas won't have eight-man officiating crew."