Despite Officiating, No Excuses for Auburn's Loss to Georgia

Auburn had plenty of chances to overcome the poor officiating against Georgia.

Auburn had plenty of chances to defeat Georgia. | John Reed-Imagn Images

AUBURN, Ala.- The Auburn Tigers (3-3) have dropped their third straight SEC contest against the 10th ranked Georgia Bulldogs (5-1), 20-10, Saturday night in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

The officiating crew for the game made some very questionable calls throughout the game, but the Tigers could not battle back from adversity all night when calls did not go their way. 

Although it felt like the Tigers were battling more than one team last night, that is not a full excuse to not win the game. Auburn still had plenty of opportunities to win the game last night, but failed to execute. 

To put it quite frankly, the Auburn offense just did not adjust in the second half like the Georgia defense did.

At one point in the matchup, Auburn was up 10-0 with the ball on the one-yard-line looking to score yet again. Instead, quarterback Jackson Arnold fumbled the ball, at least according to the officials, and possession was given to the Bulldogs. At that point in the game, all of the wind in the sails of Auburn seemingly vanished for good.

After the game, team captain Keldric Faulk explained there was no excuse for Auburn to not win, despite what was going on. 

“Even with the missed touchdown call, we still had plenty of chances to go and win, so we can’t use that as an excuse of how we didn’t win,” he said. 

The Bulldogs then went on to have a 12-play 88 yard drive to kick a field goal right before halftime and quite frankly, they never looked back after that.

The offensive coaching staff for Auburn under head coach Hugh Freeze seemingly is never able to adjust to things mid game, leading to yet another close loss under the third-year head coach.

Fast forward to the early fourth quarter with Georgia up 13-10, Auburn quarterback Jackson Arnold took a deep shot to a wide open Eric Singleton that could've given Auburn all of the momentum back. However, he overthrew this pass and instead of what probably would’ve been a long touchdown, the Tigers were staring at a third down from their own 29-yard line. 

In the end, Auburn was outscored 20-0 after taking a 10-0 lead.

Another game, another missed throw by Jackson Arnold that could’ve potentially put the game away. Wide open. No excuses. @thewarrapport pic.twitter.com/IG9EOixOAq

— Mike G. (@mikegittens) October 12, 2025

Auburn is now 2-11 in games decided by 10 points or less under Freeze, indicating a more serious problem than just officiating for the Tigers.