“Gloom, despair and agony on me,
Deep dark depression, excessive misery,
If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all,
Gloom, despair and agony on me.”
– Roy Clark, Grandpa Jones, Gordie Tapp, Archie Campbell … Hee Haw TV Show
The four members of that Hee Haw jug-blowing quartet may not have been Auburn football fans. They’re all gone now, but based on the words of their song, and the outcome of way too many recent Auburn football games, especially early this season, those guys certainly could have been.
Seldom, if ever, in decades of covering college football have I read as many columns, received as many e-mail messages or seen as many social media posts about one game, particularly about one play, which turned the momentum and outcome of a contest and infuriated as many people coast-to-coast as the Georgia-Auburn game played on Saturday night.
Please accept my apology in advance for the length of this column, but with so many aspects involved, there’s a lot that needs to be said.
In case you didn’t watch Saturday night college football, here’s what all the fuss is about:
With just over a minute left in the first half, Auburn led Georgia, 10-0, and had the ball with its point maybe six inches from the Bulldog goal line. At that point. The Tigers had 238 yards total offense. The Bulldogs had 20 and had never snapped the ball in Auburn territory. All excitement and momentum was in burnt orange and navy blue.
The ball was snapped to quarterback Jackson Arnold who pushed himself forward and who was pushed forward by teammates behind him. He went over other players, didn’t hit the ground and remember … only the point of the ball had to cross the stripe, maybe six inches away.
Almost instantly Auburn players thrust their arms upward in celebration, the crowd roared and the student section right in front of the play went berserk. A 17-0 lead, carrying that momentum into intermission, could be a hard hill to climb even for the Bulldogs who were in the process of getting blown out.
But, wait. The head official had not extended his arms upward and there was a Georgia player running with the ball 50 yards or so downfield. Silence followed. For what seemed like 10 minutes (it really may have been that long; have they considered time limits for replays?) the call was made … The point of the ball had not gone over the goal line. The ball carrier had fumbled and Georgia had recovered. The Bulldogs had the ball at the one-yard line.
If it had been covered by a giant vacuum cleaner, the stadium’s air could not have been sucked out more powerfully or more instantly. Several plays later – including a controversial targeting call that ejected one of Auburn’s best defenders (DB Kaylin Lee), a roughing the passer call after a Bulldog incompletion, and an offsides call – the Bulldogs kicked a field goal with 0:13 seconds remaining.
Understandably furious Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze and athletic director John Cohen followed the officiating crew off the field, but nothing was going to change what had been done.
Instead of 17-0 … 10-3 … with all momentum gone, excitement gone and the Bulldogs set to receive the next kickoff. Two quarters later, the Bulldogs offense and defense had done a first-half Auburn impression. Georgia led the game in total offense by 19 yards and neither offense even reached 300 in total yards.
There were several significant plays that went against the home-standing Tigers in the game. But, the officials’ interpretation of the most significant play … the momentum killing play, the game-changing play … was simple.
Arnold fumbled. No touchdown.
Reaction was instantaneous.
Commentator Booger McFarland made things clear at halftime.
“Let’s just understand the rule,” he said. “The ball just has to break this white line. The tip of the ball just has to touch the tip of that white line. If it does, it’s a touchdown. If you freeze the play, he still has control. There’s the white line. There’s the tip of the ball. It breaks the plane. … It’s a 10-point swing. It (the score) should be 17-0.”
ABC commentator Sean McDonough was baffled as to what the officials could have been seeing, as from the television goal line angle the ball appeared to cross the plane while Arnold still had possession, according to Morgan Moriarty of The Sporting News.
“I have no idea what they were looking at,” McDonough said.
Matt Austin, a former SEC official, currently ABC rules analyst, was certain about the play.
“From the synched-up view, it looks like he’s got the ball right in front of the No. 11 on his jersey,” he said. “If you look at the view from the back, his No. 11 from the back is definitely across the goal line. By merging the two (views) together, that’s a touchdown.”
ESPN analyst Greg McElroy also made his thoughts clear, calling it a touchdown.
“Might not just had enough evidence to overturn beyond all doubt,” he said. “That’s the protocol, beyond all doubt. Clearly the replay review, they didn’t see it the way we saw it.”
It was the second time in three games that Auburn was “cheated” out of a chance to win a game. In Norman, Okla., the Sooners intentionally ran an illegal play, scored a touchdown, and the play was allowed. In the first quarter, a “scoop and score” by Auburn was disallowed by officials.
That was a 14 point-swing in a 24-17 loss.
After that loss, the Southeastern Conference admitted the illegality of the play and apologized to Auburn. (Look at all the good that did!).
Fans of other schools, not just Auburn, were quick and hard on social media regarding the Georgia rulings. Several Crimson Tide fans took up for the Tigers. I saw one post from a Dawg fan who acknowledged the seven-point error.
“How many times can the college referees cheat these Auburn kids out of a win,” chuck e posted during the game. “The replay expert admitted that it was a touchdown.”
“More HORRIBLE officiating. CLEARLY an Auburn touchdown,” said someone identified as College Football Fan.
“Auburn getting screwed in their own house,” posted Mike.
“The SEC has it out for Auburn … that was clearly a touchdown,” said another.
Still, there are two sides to most every story.
Regarding the cheating accusations, there is a difference in cheating and incompetence. The illegal scoring play by Oklahoma was cheating. Score should have been removed, Sooners penalized and Auburn likely wins.
But I’m not making here a cheating or conspiracy charge on the other questionable calls and plays. Referees are human and can make mistakes. But they’re still inexcusable.
And while the blown Saturday night goal-line call did make a gigantic difference in the outcome of the game, it wasn’t the only reason for the loss. Auburn could have played with the same energy and discipline as in the first half and still won despite unsatisfactory officiating.
Auburn star defensive end Keldric Faulk acknowledged the officiating error, but accepted team blame for the loss.
“That (the blown touchdown call) was definitely devastating,” he said. “We thought that he scored. I feel that it (the blown call) did carry over (into the second half). … Even with that we had plenty of chances to go out there and win.”
“We could have kept the energy up on the sideline better as a team,” Tigers’ tight end Preston Howard said after the game. “… We just have to execute and we’ll be perfectly fine. I truly believe that we are way better than Georgia.”
Howard admitted that the officiating calls in the final two minutes of the first half, “definitely shifted the momentum,” but that the team “has to do better when adversity hits.”
You can understand frustration, disappointment and impatience from Auburn people. The three Tigers’ losses this season were against teams that have been ranked in the Top 10. But, it wasn’t that long ago that Auburn was being on that same level itself. That’s what Tiger faithful expect, especially with the high salaries and costs related with college athletics today.
It’s not that Auburn is getting demolished by superior teams. Seven of the Tigers’ last 10 losses have been by 10 points or less. Winnable games, but it seems like something almost always goes wrong.
What about Freeze’s long-term status at Auburn? Heck, what are his 2025 prospects? Already with three losses, still with games against No. 16 Missouri, No. 17 Vanderbilt, No. 6. Alabama and at improving Arkansas, will there be enough wins to even qualify for a postseason bowl game?
Some might say, “it’s just a game,” or “one loss doesn’t mean that much.”
Rethink that. It’s possible, maybe likely, that without the 14-point referee swing in Norman, and the no-touchdown call on Saturday night, Auburn would be 5-1 and ranked near the Top 10 and talking about the CFP rather than 3-3 and talking about head coach buyouts.
Coaches have already been fired this season by prominent programs … Penn State, UCLA, Arkansas, Oregon State, UAB, Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech. Will Hugh Freeze be added to that list with a loss at home to Mizzou or a game in Fayetteville the following Saturday?
I know a lot of people, including family members, including two of my sons, who think he and his staff should be gone. Many social media posts vehemently call for that to happen. I don’t agree with that sentiment, at least not yet.
Things going against Auburn is nothing new. Maybe it’s time for some things to go Freeze’s and Auburn’s way. You know the blind squirrel theory.
Here’s some numbers for your evaluation.
There is a national listing “NCAA College Football Luck Rankings & Ratings.” In the 2024 season, there were 134 teams ranked according to bad luck. Auburn was No. 130, last in the SEC, only four teams more unlucky.
TeamRankings.com has its list for “Unluckiest College Football Teams.” Auburn was second ahead of only Kansas.
With only close losses to ranked teams, two losses that arguably should be wins, a winnable upcoming schedule and a strong recruiting class, seems that firing would be premature. There’s still a shot at a winning season, victories over ranked teams and a win over Alabama.
But that’s not likely. Not impossible, but doubtful.
I learned a new word in Minneapolis in 2019. Walking in the concourse just after another blown officiating situation … the final five seconds at the Final Four against Virginia which cost Auburn a shot at the national championship. A longtime friend, a national basketball writer, told me that Auburn had just gotten “Auburned” … something going against you that cost you a chance at greater glory.
The Tigers have to stop being “Auburned” whether brought on by themselves, brought on by unacceptable officiating or brought on by just bad luck.
Until that happens, you’ll understand why some can’t get away from the last verse of that song …
“If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all,
Gloom despair and agony on me.”