Official From Auburn vs Georgia Game Reportedly Suspended

One of the officials behind controversial calls during the Auburn Tigers game vs Georgia has been suspended

The SEC CFB referee was suspended after some controversial calls | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

AUBURN, Ala.- According to reports, the SEC has suspended Ken Williamson after reviewing his officiating from the Auburn-Georgia game. It was first reported by yellowhammernews.com.

The officiating of the Auburn-Georgia game two weeks ago was controversial to say the least. The most “controversial” play of that evening came in the late second quarter of the game, where Auburn quarterback Jackson Arnold “fumbled” the ball at the one-yard line, which was then ruled in favor of the Georgia Bulldogs, recovering the ball and gaining possession.

There were plenty of examples of Auburn not being on the officials' good side during that matchup, but another main example of this is when Georgia head coach Kirby Smart clearly called a timeout but pleaded to the officials that he was “clapping” and not calling a timeout. You can be the judge on whether or not Smart was “clapping” or calling a timeout. 

Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy try to make sense of Kirby Smart getting off the hook for calling a timeout here. pic.twitter.com/L6Bk43fuvs

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 12, 2025

The officials did not charge Georgia a timeout and instead reset the game clock and gave Georgia essentially a free timeout, rather than charging Georgia a timeout or penalizing Georgia for a delay of game. 

There were plenty of egregious no-calls and calls that went against the Auburn Tigers. More often than not, when Auburn gained momentum in the game, the officials called for a review, which took a significantly long time. The runtime for the first half alone was over 2 hours due to all of the reviews after what seemed like every Auburn big play.

We’ve reached a point in this sport where the integrity of the game is being questioned week after week, due to the disgraceful officiating in the SEC.

Last night I left JHS with a sickening feeling like I haven’t felt since… well 3 weeks ago.

I have no doubts that this game… pic.twitter.com/fDUaMt371j

— Babysitter Bari (@BabysitterBari) October 12, 2025

Auburn also experienced poor officiating in its SEC opener against the Oklahoma Sooners, where the SEC issued a statement on the officiating of that matchup. 

In the Oklahoma game, the Sooners illegally faked a substitution, which resulted in the Sooners scoring a touchdown to the wide receiver who faked the substitution. Williamson’s officiating crew was not the one present in Auburn’s matchup against Oklahoma, but it unfortunately began a trend for the Tigers on calls not going their way. The statement by the SEC after the Auburn-Oklahoma game is shown below: 

Statement on @AuburnFootball/@OU_Football game: pic.twitter.com/PCn8AwLkeb

— SEC Officiating (@SECOfficiating) September 21, 2025

In both of those games, Auburn lost those matchups. However, it cannot be ignored that a lot of game-changing penalties and non-penalties killed any momentum the Tigers have had since starting conference play. The SEC is known around the college football world to have one of the worst officials to call games, but at least the SEC is finally acknowledging when officials are making wrong calls.