Joe Paterno admits it sounds like sour grapes, but perhaps he has a point.

After all, was it fair three weeks ago when the Big Ten assigned three Michigan residents -- one of whom hails from Ann Arbor -- to officiate Penn State's game at Michigan? And earlier this season, when the Pac-10 pointed a noted Arizona supporter to officiate the Wildcats game against Utah -- was that just? "We are all human beings who have friends and impulses," Paterno said.

Most college football game officials and their conference overseers scoff at suggestions that the whistleblowers on the field may be less than impartial. The very thought that where a game official calls home has any bearing with when they blow -- or don't blow -- their whistles on the field is insulting.

	Homers?
	The 2002 Big Ten football officiating staff consists of 58 individuals. Of them, only Richard Honig (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and James Krogstad (Madison, Wis.) live in a Big Ten town. The following is a state-by-state breakdown of the conference's game officials:
	State	Officials
	Illinois	17
	Ohio	11
	Michigan	8
	Indiana	6
	Iowa	4
	Minnesota	4
	Pennsylvania	4
	Wisconsin	4
	Source: Big Ten Conference media guide

When coaches say that, "it just shows a lack of understanding the psyche of an official," said Verle Sorgen, the Pac-10's director of officials. "First and foremost is getting the call correct. That's the bottom line. If he's at this level, he wants to get the call correct. I think this is all absurd."

Gary Wise, an officiating veteran of 32 seasons who has worked in the NFL, the Southeastern Conference and this year in the Mid-South Conference, agrees.

"I've known a lot of officials from different areas and walks of life and I've never seen an official, never ever even heard one, consider lending favoritism to one team or another. It's an unspoken thing. Whether the guy was from Ann Arbor or Kalamazoo, the call would have been the same."

But how can we be certain? Paterno's comments after Penn State's overtime loss to Michigan prompted Penn State athletics director Tim Curley to call for a "comprehensive review" of how Big Ten officials are assigned to games. And Utah coach Ron McBride's early season criticism also put the Pac-10 on the spot.

After a controversial 23-17 loss to Arizona in September, McBride accused Pac-10 game official Jim Fogltance of boosterism. McBride, an Arizona assistant in the late '80s and early '90s, said Fogltance was a longtime supporter of University of Arizona athletics and couldn't figure out why he was officiating the game.

McBride told the Salt Lake Tribune: "I knew him when I was down there. He's a big-time UA guy. A big booster. I don't know what in the hell he's doing, doing the game."

Though McBride later apologized, his comments were stinging, especially when he added, "Every time we started to take the momentum, they seemed to make a call that stopped us from doing that … They're probably laughing about it right now."

The accusation left many asking: How are officials assigned?

The answer varies by conference. In the Big Ten and Pac-10, seven-man crews are assigned to games based on experience and previous game ratings. More experienced crews that have earned higher scores are sent to officiate the bigger games on the schedule.

An official's home state has little bearing on where he's assigned -- or not assigned. That's in part because of the headaches such schedule-juggling would cause, Sorgen said.

"If you took away officials from officiating in the town that they near, we've got seven officials in Seattle, maybe 11 in the L.A. area, seven or eight in the Bay Area, all where we have multiple teams," Sorgen said. "You start saying he can't do this game and he can't do that game and scheduling would be practically impossible."

Though the same holds true in the Big East and the SEC, both conferences try to avoid blatant oversights.

"You have to be sensitive to the situation," said John Soffey, coordinator of officials for the Big East. "Just like the NFL, we have no geographic restrictions or considerations. Once you do that, it's a backhanded way of saying you question the integrity of the officials. Having said that, if Virginia Tech plays Miami, you don't want four or five guys from Virginia."

And all conferences avoid assigning an official who graduated from a particular school to officiate its games. For Paterno, that is a start. Still, he wants the Big Ten to examine the process a little further to see if anything else can be done, if only to eliminate the perception of partiality.

"Just re-examine how officials are assigned," he said. "It is tough. There should be some kind of a policy. Not to say that there is anything wrong with what has been done. It is just that, 'Let's take a good look at it.' "