Perhaps no longer will Western Athletic Conference football games be worked by, well, WAC officials.

Beginning this season the game officials could be regional groups, an amalgam of either WAC and Mountain West Conference officials or WAC, MWC and Big 12 officials working across conference lines.

And, in 2009, get ready for combined WAC, MWC, Big 12, Conference USA and, maybe, even Pac-10 officials.

The WAC is in the forefront of a long overdue move toward regionalizing the officials who work college football games and the 2008 season, pending final approval this spring, will be the first step beyond the experimental stages.

You caught a little-known glimpse of it in November when a WAC-MWC-Big 12 crew worked the University of Hawai'i-Boise State game. This year, pending the approval of the conferences involved, crews that work UH's conference games and non-conference home games will be from one of two composites: WAC and MWC or WAC, MWC and Big 12.

The idea — and it is a good one — is that officials will no longer be tied to or identified with a single conference but come out of a regional pool that takes its orders and instruction together. The better to encourage a uniformity where there has sometimes been big differences in rule interpretation and enforcement.

For example, some conferences have been more lenient — or strict — in calling holding or pass interference penalties. Some make certain rules more of a point of emphasis than others. Because of it, all have been subject to considerable second guessing and "homer" complaints.

Under the proposed system, "you shouldn't be able to see any differences on any game, whether it is an Air Force, Oklahoma or Hawai'i game," said Frank White, a Hawai'i-based referee who has worked for nearly 25 years. The (enforcement) should be identical."

Indeed, college football has reached the point where the old system of each conference rigidly controlling the officials and how they work the games has been outgrown. With the number of games that are televised and the millions of dollars in potential postseason rewards that can be riding on some of them, the game needs to distance itself from any perception of leagues watching out for their own.

How many times, in fact, have non-conference visitors left Aloha Stadium blaming WAC crews for a disputed call? How often has UH perceived a slight in the calls of a crew from another conference?

While what the WAC and others are proposing seems a straight forward enough remedy, on a national scale — and even regionally — there is still much resistance. Too many leagues, or their supervisors, are unfortunately reluctant to cede authority, digging in their heels against progress.

"Right now the WAC, Mountain West and Big 12 are demonstrating a sincere desire and interest in creating a better officiating system," said WAC commissioner Karl Benson.

Hopefully, the 2008 season will prove the wisdom of their trailblazing efforts and bring the recalcitrant and fence-sitters around.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.