The same officiating crew that ruined the 2025 Auburn-Oklahoma game with an obvious error that enabled Brent Venables' squad to score an unearned touchdown almost ruined the result of the Texas-Tennessee game this past weekend.
As Footballscoop's Zach Barnett has confirmed, the crew refereed by Kyle Olson, with Rod Tucker as the umpire, Chadwick Green as the linesman, Chris Conway as the line judge, Tom Fimmen as the back judge, John Wisnewski as the field judge, Gordon Everett, Jr., as the side judge, Chris Garner as the center judge, and David Almand, was on Rocky top for the Longhorns' 20-17 win over the Volunteers.
Per Barnett, "Green, Fimmen and Wisnewski were also part of the crew that failed to catch the "hideout play" that produced a critical touchdown in Oklahoma's 24-17 win over Auburn last season."
Interesting. Very interesting.
Does Oklahoma have shooters at the SEC's offices?
Perhaps Auburn wasn't who the conspiracy was aimed at. Perhaps the Sooners simply have shooters at the SEC's offices in Birmingham.
How else can one explain screwing up so egregiously two years in a row to benefit Oklahoma and screw over Texas?
It'd make sense for the Sooners to get their foot in the door and establish a competitive advantage in a new conference they probably don't have enough money to consistently compete in. That's doubly true if it came at the expense of their much richer Red River Rivalry counterpart.
I'm mostly being a bit tongue-in-cheek and asking questions. We live in a completely corrupt world and country, though, and the state of Oklahoma isn't exactly known for keeping corruption at bay.
The Sooners are a primary cash cow in the state. With how NBA referees officiate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder, would it be beyond the state's politicians to get a competitive advantage in all sports whenever possible?
Again, I'm just a man asking questions. It's a free country, and asking questions is still legal. For now, anyway.
Auburn may have benefitted from the Oklahoma screw job
That Sooners game was the beginning of a wicked spiral on the Plains.
AU lost to Texas A&M the following week, and then saw official Ken Williamson screw the Tigers over so badly against Georgia three weekends later that he was suspended by the SEC for the rest of the 2025 season.
Williamson is now out of the sport entirely. He was planning to retire after the 2025 campaign, but his own sins caused him to bow out earlier.
The Hugh Freeze era's beginning of the end took place in Norman on that fateful late-September Saturday. Auburn fans became hopelessly obsessed with officiating after the Oklahoma loss.
Frankly, given what we know about how Freeze operated, the Sooners screw job may have been a blessing in disguise. Freeze was never going to lead the Tigers to anything of significance.
Two wrongs don't make a right, though. The fishy officiating needs to go.
The 2026 season would've been broadly affected by the Vols upsetting the Horns like that. Good thing Tennessee wasn't able to take advantage, because we would never hear the end of it from Steve Sarkisian.
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