Auburn End Up on Wrong End of Worst Officiating List

It should be unsurprising that the recent events got Auburn onto this list

The recent controversy in the Auburn-Georgia game made an unfortunate list | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Pete Nakos of On3 ranked the 10 worst officiating calls of the 2025 season so far in an article on Wednesday morning, and the Auburn Tigers featured prominently. Not only did the Tigers claim the top three spots in the list, but all three of those calls went against head coach Hugh Freeze’s squad.

At No. 3 was the now infamous Kirby Smart timeout debacle from Auburn’s game against Georgia on Oct. 11. At the time of the call, Auburn found itself on defense for a critical 3rd and 9 in its own territory, trailing 13-10. Before the play, Smart ran down the sideline, appearing to call for a timeout. 

The officials stopped play, but decided not to charge Georgia a timeout after Smart told the crew that an Auburn defender was clapping. However, to those watching, it seemed as if Smart managed to convince the officials he was clapping rather than calling for a timeout. Georgia would go on to miss a field goal on the drive.

Regardless, the decision not to charge the Bulldogs a timeout was inexplicable, ranking right up with the flag that was picked up last year in the Texas-Georgia game when fans threw trash on the field.

The No. 2 call on Nakos’s list was the missed “hideout tactic” in Auburn’s game against Oklahoma. Oklahoma receiver Isaiah Sategna walked over to the sideline, acting as if he was being subbed off, before staying on the field and essentially walking to the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown that gave Oklahoma a 10-3 lead.

The SEC would release a statement about the call during the week following the game, stating that the play was illegal and shouldn’t have been allowed. There were many other reasons the Tigers lost that game to Oklahoma, but it still stings to lose a game 24-17 in which the conference leadership admitted that the other team scored a long touchdown on an illegal play.

Topping the list of officiating lowlights was the Jackson Arnold fumble at the goal line against Georgia just before halftime. At that point, Auburn led Georgia 10-0, and with the touchdown would’ve taken a 17-0 lead with 1:32 to play before halftime. To that point in the game, Georgia had run just 12 total plays and appeared to be completely outmatched by the Tigers in Jordan-Hare.

The play was initially called a fumble on the field, but then reviewed for over ten minutes. After the review, the play stood as a fumble despite ESPN rules analyst and longtime SEC referee Matt Austin saying that he thought the play should be overturned for a touchdown. 

Georgia would drive down the field and make a field goal before the half, meaning that instead of a 17-0 lead, Auburn went into the locker room up just 10-3. The Tigers were thoroughly crushed in the second half, unable to muster another point as Georgia went on to secure a 20-10 win.

Furthermore, the head referee for the Auburn-Georgia game was Ken Williamson, whose crew was suspended for the remainder of the season by the SEC due to their multitude of errors and unnecessary lengthy reviews during that particular game.

So, while officiating is far from the only reason why Auburn lost to both Georgia and Oklahoma, it clearly did not help the Tigers either. Rarely is a team featured three times in the 10 worst calls of the season, much less so in the top three worst calls, and even less so on the losing end of all three. Though in a season that feels like a never-ending string of bad breaks, bad play, and bad luck for the team on The Plains, it almost seems like par for the course.