With championship weekend heating up and college football reaching its end, the Tulane Green Wave is ready to host North Texas for their ACC championship game. Both entered the game with a 7-1 record and earned the trip to the title game via tiebreakers against Navy. Now, with kickoff set at Yulman Stadium, let’s know about the referee of the game.

Kevin Randall is the man behind the night who developed an interest in football officiating, and he started his career with high schools across Mississippi. In 2012, his team officiated a Mississippi high school championship game that was broadcast on local television. During the game, he caught the attention of longtime NFL official Jack Vaughn. Vaughn asked Randall why he hadn’t moved to college football, and Randall explained that he didn’t have an idea of how to make that move. But then, with Vaughn’s guidance, Randall started officiating junior college games in 2013 and then joined Conference USA in 2015.

In that same year, college football introduced the center judge, an eighth official, behind the offensive backfield, near the referee. Now, Randall served as a center judge until 2019, when he was promoted to head referee. Then, in 2022, he began working with the ACC.