Death, taxes, and the Auburn Tigers complaining about the officials. After a 3-0 start, including a strong road win over the Baylor Bears in Waco in the non-conference, Auburn has lost three in a row, all in SEC play. Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze is very much on the hot seat at the halfway point. Auburn was up 10-0 and about to make it 17-0 right before Jackson Arnold's controversial fumble...
The play resulted in Georgia knocking the ball out right before the goal line. Gunner Stockton and the Georgia offense ended up kicking a field goal to make it 10-3 heading into halftime. Freeze had no answers for what happened heading into the half. His team shriveled up and got worked in the second half. Georgia ended up winning 20-10 to ruin Cam Newton's special evening at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Noted officiating expert Terry McAulay would go on to admit that this was the right call in the end.
In an earlier post I mentioned I would have reversed the Auburn fumble to TD. I did that based on the sync'd 2-box below that seemed to clearly indicate the ball was beyond the goal line before it came loose.
— Terry McAulay (@tjmcaulay) October 13, 2025
I've had a chance to look closer, and the two angles used there were… pic.twitter.com/g93DJdVlVY
McAulay admitted that he would have made the wrong call, based on some faulty technology. He believed that the synced 2-box was lined up properly. Instead, one of the angles was about 15 frames ahead of the other one. Georgia did in fact force the fumble at the goal line, which was the defining play of the game. In a season that is slowly getting away from Auburn, you almost feel bad for them...
Georgia not only ended Auburn's playoff dreams, but may have caused Freeze to be out of a job soon.
Terry McAulay defending Georgia's big win over Auburn says everything
While McAulay's reputation as a rules expert can be hit or miss at times, it is nice to see him come to the good side of things here. Admittedly, this was one of the worst officiated games in recent SEC history. The only other one that comes to mind was how inconsistent everything was in the 2023 SEC Championship between Alabama and Georgia. Both programs got hosed on the regular in that game.
What is interesting here is why is it always Auburn? The Tigers' last three games have all had horrible calls go against them. Is this a way of the SEC sticking it to Freeze? Tin-foil hats be damned, it may say something more about his program than anything. Any team of substance should be able to win a game without the help of the officials. Auburn does not seem be interested in winning games anyway.
At the end of the day, winners find ways and losers find excuses. Georgia could not have played a worse first half than it did vs. Auburn. Give Kirby Smart a lot of credit for rallying the troops and having his guys put forth a dominant showing in the second half of a night game on the road. It is clear that Georgia has an all-timer at head coach, while Freeze is slowly but surely totally losing his locker room.
People may hate Georgia for winning this game, but McAulay did his part to silence all the doubters.