SEC confirms suspicion that Auburn Tigers were screwed by officiating early, setting up disappointing loss to Oklahoma
SEC officiating surprisingly admits that they made massive mistake that hurt Auburn
The Auburn Tigers suffered a tough loss on Saturday to the Oklahoma Sooners, 24-17.
The defense played well. Key offensive playmakers came up huge. Unfortunately, Jackson Arnold struggled in a huge way when facing pressure, taking 10 sacks. However, even with the 10 sacks (and 13 penalties committed by Auburn that Hugh Freeze mentioned in postgame), they still likely shouldn’t have even been in a position to lose the game late the way that they did.
Why? SEC officiating confirmed the fact that Auburn was absolutely screwed by an early no-call on a fake-substitution play that resulted in an Oklahoma Sooners touchdown.
SEC admits officials should have penalized Oklahoma for deceptive play
The game was still early in the second quarter. Neither offense could get much going, and Auburn had just turned the ball over on downs on a punting mishap in Sooners territory. It was second and 22 after a holding penalty and a running play that went for -2 yards. The Sooners still couldn’t do anything on offense.
Then, Oklahoma wide receiver Isaiah Sategna acted as if he was going to substitute out on the play, but stopped just short of the Sooners’ sideline. Freeze and his staff seemed to notice that their defense had lost track of Sategna just before the ball was snapped and tried to call a timeout, but it was too late. John Mateer immediately handled the snap and tossed a quick touchdown to the wide-open receiver. Freeze was asked about the play after the game and had to hold his tongue:
“Oh, the one where we tried to call a timeout? I guarantee you–well, I better be quiet,” Freeze said. “They said they didn’t hear us trying to call a timeout. We were instructed all offseason about deception plays and things, so we’ll see what’s said. I really don’t know what will be said about that.”
Freeze obviously knew the Sooners were in the wrong. This issue was a point of emphasis across the entire SEC this offseason, and Freeze knew it was a play that should have been penalized, but he didn’t want to get fined for saying so. Thankfully, for whatever it’s worth, after a loss, SEC officiating at least came out and admitted they were in the wrong. You can see the play in question in the post below.
The SEC doesn’t always issue official statements. Still, in this case, since the officiating crew’s failure to penalize Oklahoma led to Auburn being down late in the game, it made sense to at least acknowledge wrongdoing.
Had the penalty actually been called on the Sooners, that would have knocked them out of field goal range and made it second and 37.
The full statement from the SEC can be found below:
“In Saturday’s Auburn at Oklahoma football game with 10:50 remaining in the 2nd quarter, a pass was thrown to Oklahoma #5 resulting in a touchdown. Oklahoma #5 participated in the previous play, which was a first-down play from the 22-yard line. After the first down play was completed, Oklahoma #5 continued towards his team’s sideline but stopped just before reaching the Oklahoma sideline.
NCAA football rule 9-2, Article 2 is labeled ‘Unfair Tactics’ with paragraph (B) stating:
“No simulated replacements or substitutions may be used to confuse opponents. No tactic associated with substitutes or the substitution process may be used to confuse opponents. This includes any hideout tactic with or without substitution.”
The officiating crew did not properly interpret the action as a hideout tactic. If properly officiated, the second down play should have resulted in a team unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of 15 yards assessed from the previous spot.”
The whole end-of-game scenario could have looked completely different for Auburn had they gotten a stop following what should have been a penalty instead of giving up a bogus touchdown. Unfortunately, because the touchdown was allowed, Auburn found itself down 22-17, having to force pass after pass downfield, taking sacks in its own end zone near the end of regulation. It should have likely had the lead instead.
Auburn still put itself in bad situations due to its own penalties and gave up 10 sacks. There are plenty of things it needs to work on. However, that doesn’t change the fact that it still likely should have won the game against Oklahoma had it not been for this embarrassing officiating debacle.
We’ll be back with more Auburn Tigers coverage here at A to Z Sports soon! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!
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