College Football Playoff Announcers and Referees for Semifinal Games

The 2024 College Football Playoff continues this week with a pair of semifinal games slated for Thursday and Friday.

No. 7 Notre Dame will play No. 6 Penn State on Thursday, Jan. 9 in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami while No. 8 Ohio State will play No. 5 Texas on Friday, Jan. 10 in the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Along with the bowl organizers, College Football Playoff announcers and referees are expected to play a big part in helping to put forth two exciting semifinal games for college football fans before the championship.

There’s already been some simmering controversy over officiating in recent games, as in the case of the targeting no-call in Texas’ 39-31 win over ASU in the Peach Bowl.

For a useful gameday reference, here are the announcers and referees for the CFP semifinal games.

Notre Dame vs. Penn State Announcers for College Football Playoff Semifinals

The Orange Bowl announcers are Sean McDonough (play-by-play) and Greg McElroy (analyst). The game will be broadcast on ESPN, and kickoff is set for Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Notre Dame vs. Penn State Referees for College Football Playoff Semifinals

The Orange Bowl will feature a Big 12 officiating crew led by referee Michael Vandervelde.

Ohio State vs. Texas Announcers for College Football Playoff Semifinals

The Cotton Bowl announcers are Chris Fowler (play-by-play) and Kirk Herbstreit (analyst). The game will be broadcast on ESPN, and kickoff is set for Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Ohio State vs. Texas Referees for College Football Playoff Semifinals

The Cotton Bowl will feature an ACC officiating crew led by referee Jerry Magallanes.

The expanded playoff format this year brought a new system of assigning officiating crews. The one requirement across all College Football Playoff matchups is that the officiating crew for any given game cannot be from the same conference as the participating schools.

Rather like the teams themselves, College Football Playoff officiating crews can advance to later rounds based on performance.

The officiating crew for the College Football Playoff championship has yet to be assigned.