Terry McAulay Terry McAulay is an American football official in the National Football League ( NFL ) since the 1998 NFL season , and Coordinator of Football Officials for the Big East Conference since 2008 . McAulay is most notable for working five conference championship games as referee since 2001 , and officiating Super Bowl XXXIX and Super Bowl XLIII . Beginning his eleventh season as referee ( fourteenth season overall ) with the 2011 NFL season , McAulay ' s officiating crew consists of umpire Paul King , head linesman Greg Bradley , line judge Mark Steinkerchner , field judge Terry Brown , side judge Michael Banks and back judge Lee Dyer . Personal . Raised in Hammond , Louisiana , McAulay is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a degree in computer science . He has a wife , a daughter and a son ; they all live in Glenwood , Maryland . Officiating career . Early years . McAulay ' s football officiating career began in 1976 , including many years at the high school level in Howard County , Maryland . Prior to joining the NFL , McAulay was a referee in the Atlantic Coast Conference from 1994 to 1997 , and was the referee for the BCS National Championship Game at the Miami Orange Bowl in 1998 . NFL career . McAulay began his NFL officiating career in 1998 as a side judge on Walt Coleman ' s crew and worked the 2000 NFC Championship game , which was his last game at that position before he became a referee for the 2001 NFL season . He wears uniform number 77 . Coincidentally , McAulay wears the same number and originally worked at the same position that was vacated by Mike Pereira , who served as the NFL ' s Vice President of Officiating from 2001 until February 2010 . McAulay was the referee of Super Bowl XLIII ; he had previously served as referee for Super Bowl XXXIX . " Bottlegate " incident . McAulay was the referee during a late 2001 NFL season game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Cleveland Browns at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland , Ohio . The Browns were driving toward the east end zone for what would have been the winning score . Browns ' wide receiver Quincy Morgan caught a pass for a first down on 4th and 1 . After quarterback Tim Couch spiked the ball on the next play to stop the clock , McAulay announced that they were going to review Morgan ' s catch , saying that the replay officials had buzzed him , indicating for a replay review , before Couch spiked the ball . McAulay did not actually move to his buzzer until well after Couch had snapped and spiked the ball , but replay official Bill Reynolds would later claim that McAulay merely did not react in time to stop the spike play . In reviewing the play , McAulay determined that Morgan never had control of the ball , thus the pass was incomplete , and the Jaguars were awarded the ball . However , fans in the " Dawg Pound " began throwing plastic beer bottles and other objects directed at and striking players and officials . McAulay then declared the game over and sent the teams to the locker rooms . NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue called the game supervisor to override McAulay ' s decision , sending the players back onto the field after a thirty - minute delay , where the Jaguars ran out the last seconds under a hail of debris .