When Miami takes on Indiana in the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship, the players won't be the only ones on the field.
The officiating crew, of course, will be there as well — and that matters for bettors.
A Big 12 crew earned the call this year, and there are some tendencies that fans and bettors alike need to be aware of.
Action Network senior writer Collin Wilson took a deep dive into the officiating crew for Monday's national title game, so let's take a look at what he found.
2026 National Championship Officiating Crew
The referee assignment for the 2026 National Championship falls upon Michael VanderVelde of the Big 12, an official in the league since 2020.
This will not be the first showcase game of his career, as he officiated the 2023 and 2024 Rose Bowls and the XFL Championship in 2023.
VanderVelde’s officiating history started in the Southland Conference before moving on to the Mountain West.
Michael VanderVelde's penalty breakdown, per SportsSource Analytics.
Through 13 games this season, VanderVelde has called a near-FBS average of 12.5 penalties per game.
The veteran official has a much higher tendency to call offensive flags over defensive penalties, with false starts and holding accounting for 34% of all penalties.
However, defensive pass interference is called at a higher rate than the NCAA average during VanderVelde’s games, with an average of 1.54 per contest.
Both national title teams have been excellent at avoiding defensive pass interference, with Miami sitting in the top 35 and Indiana in the top 15 in the fewest number of flags for pass interference.
Where VanderVelde could become a predictable factor is on false starts. That's VanderVelde's most-called penalty, coming in at 20%. VanderVelde has a season average of 2.5 false start penalties per game.
Indiana and Miami have higher averages than most FBS teams at 1.6 and 1.3 false start penalties per game, respectively.
If prop markets were to ever have wagers on the first penalty called, false start would be leading the race.
