Auburn Tigers HC Hugh Freeze finally tells it like it is on SEC officiating and impact it had in Georgia Bulldogs rivalry loss
Auburn Tigers absolutely screwed by officiating again in Georgia game, and it seems to be wearing on players
The Auburn Tigers can’t seem to get out of their own way, but the officiating certainly isn’t doing them any favors. It’s hard to deny that the Tigers were absolutely screwed over by SEC officiating in Saturday’s rivalry loss to Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs–again and in more ways than one.
Following the game, Hugh Freeze finally acknowledged the elephant in the room and took a quick dive into how the officiating (or at least the result of certain calls) may have impacted his team in the second half.
Questionable Officiating Calls for Auburn against Georgia
- Jackson Arnold clearly had possession of the football as the nose of the ball crossed the plane of the goal line prior to his fumble near the end of the first half, but the fumble call stood, costing Auburn what would have been a 17-0 lead at the time.
- Roughing the passer call gifted Georgia plenty of yards, helping extend what would be a scoring drive prior to halftime.
- Kirby Smart was obviously calling for a timeout (video evidence confirms this), but then immediately denied he was, claiming he was just clapping. Officials did not force Georgia to use or lose a timeout, nor did they call a delay of the game in response to the issue.
Auburn Tigers screwed by officials in Georgia loss, Hugh Freeze and players are tired of it
Hugh Freeze addressed the issue of Auburn continuing to get bad officiating breaks immediately after the game. Of course, there was the public apology issued to Auburn for the illegal substitution issue in the Oklahoma game. There were certainly a couple questionable issues against Texas A&M as well. Now the Georgia game, too? All in a row? Freeze shared his thoughts:
“It sure feels like we’re not getting many breaks. It’s difficult to take for sure,” Freeze said. “There were a lot of things, but I felt like we broke the plane [on the Jackson Arnold touchdown turned fumble]. All you have to have is the nose of the ball; just the nose of the ball has to break the plane. I thought we had a pretty good shot of that, but it didn’t go our way. [On Kirby’s timeout/clapping] I don’t know how–they should have a delay of game or a timeout there. Not a whole new play. I’m not sure what happened there, but there’s a lot times that I make bad calls, and officials do the same. But it certainly feels like we’re not getting many of the breaks.
Freeze – likely for fear of massive fines – softly or indirectly addressed the fact that the officials completely blew it, but he didn’t have to speak up too loudly. Everyone knew Auburn was screwed. Even ESPN’s Sean McDonough (calling the game) said, “I have no idea what they’re looking at,” regarding the fumble and no-touchdown call near the end of the first half.
That kind of game-changing penalty, especially when this isn’t even the first time something like this has happened, can completely alter a football team’s mental state. Freeze was asked about this and the impact of the penalties on the players.
“The second half didn’t feel like it had the same energy,” Freeze said. “This was another thing I mean by us not believing–really believing–you’re going to win the football game. I could be wrong on that. I didn’t really feel any deflation at halftime. I mean, you’re ticked off because you know you left points out there that you felt like your kids had gone and earned.
“Some of the credit goes to Georgia for the second half too, but it didn’t look like we played with the same physicality and energy maybe…It didn’t feel like we played with the same physicality. I don’t know if that has anything to do with the call going against us or not.”
It’s not like an SEC coach to be that candid about his players potentially being impacted mentally by something like this, but it did seem the physicality, body language, and everything about Auburn felt different in the second half. The team committed a ton of penalties. Jackson Arnold missed a couple of deep shots. There were miscues in the run game, including a possible pitch play that could have been a touchdown.
Regardless of whether the officials’ issues changed the Auburn Tigers’ mental make-up, the SEC must fix this. Costly fumble calls that should be touchdowns. Roughing the passer calls that are blatantly wrong. Timeouts or delay of game issues that go completely ignored in the face of bold-faced lies from opposing head coaches. It’s indefensible. Tigers’ coaches, players, and fans have the right to be furious right now.
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