Auburn has played close in all three of its games in SEC play against ranked opponents, but has come up short against No. 6 Oklahoma, No. 5 Texas A&M and No. 10 Georgia. The Tigers defense looks like it can compete with any team in the country, but the offense has struggled to keep up.
More News: Penn State Fans Turn on James Franklin With Brutal Chant
With points at a premium against the Bulldogs on Saturday night, Auburn had a hard time overcoming a questionable call with 1:32 remaining in the second quarter when quarterback Jackson Arnold was ruled to have fumbled at the Georgia 1-yard line. UGA cornerback Kyron Jones recovered the ball.
More News: Officials Under Fire for Questionable Calls in Notre Dame-NC State Game
ABC broadcast replay appeared to show Arnold just barely putting the ball over the goal line before losing control, which would have given Auburn a touchdown and a 17-0 advantage. Instead, Georgia marched down for a 12-play 88-yard drive and kicked a field goal to make 10-3 at halftime.
Loading twitter content…
Most of the crowd of 88,043 fans at Jordan-Hare Stadium were fuming at the call. Tigers athletic director John Cohen screamed at officials while going into the locker room at halftime.
Former NFL referee and NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay posted on X that he felt the call should have been reversed to a touchdown. He also took issue with Georgia head coach Kirby Smart appearing to call a timeout with 13:06 remaining in the fourth quarter before arguing to the officials that he made a different hand signal than a timeout.
“This has not been a good day for college football officiating,” McAulay wrote. “This is just another example. Clearly called a timeout and the officials fell for his act.”
Loading twitter content…
The Tigers never put up another point after the ruled fumble, and the 10-point swing proved costly. Georgia went on to win the game 20-10.
Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze disagreed with the call at the goal line as well.
“I thought he broke the plane,” Freeze said, via The Athletic. “All you have to do is the ball, just the nose, and the ball just has to break the plane. I thought there was a pretty good shot at that. That didn’t go our way.”
With the loss, Auburn fell to 3-3 and 0-3 in SEC play. Georgia improved to 5-1 and 3-1 in conference play.
Auburn will host No. 14 Missouri in Week 8. The Bulldogs will host No. 4 Ole Miss in Week 8.
For more on the NCAA, head to Newsweek Sports.