How in the world did Kirby Smart get away with this? This is still something people have on their minds after Saturday's Auburn football loss to Georgia. There were some questionable calls from the officials, of course including when Kirby Smart clearly called a timeout, then convinced the refs he was pointing out that Auburn was clapping. Wait, what?
Auburn fans blame refs - and Hugh Freeze - for 9th straight loss to Georgia
Yeah, that's exactly how things went down and Georgia not only wasn't charged with a timeout, which was saved for later in the action, but a delay of game penalty wasn't called either. It didn't make an ounce of sense and Hugh Freeze was quick to call out the refs for how things went down after the action:
Hugh Freeze on the officiating tonight:
— Trevor Denton (@trevordenton37) October 12, 2025
"It felt like we broke the plane."
"Should've had a delay of game or a timeout, not a whole new play."
"It certainly feels like we're not getting many of the breaks." pic.twitter.com/1UbDUz4WtD
Hugh Freeze had every right to be upset with the refs after Auburn's loss to Georgia
Freeze of course brought up the Jackson Arnold fumble at the goal line, which sure looked like it was a touchdown for the Tigers. That took a score off the board for Auburn, which obviously played a massive role in the final outcome of the game.
The whole non-timeout drama was just absurd too. Smart was clearly calling timeout. Everyone knows he was, yet the officials let him talk his way out of it. Smart only made things worse by doubling down on things while speaking to the media, but come on, he's not fooling anyone.
A complete and utter joke from the officials and Kirby.
— Will Boling (@will_boling) October 12, 2025
Also, shouldn’t the SEC office be able to radio down and fix this?
Why can’t we get replay assist for egregious errors like this like we have on Sundays? https://t.co/koIWrD5i18
That's clear as day. During a part of the video above, it looks like you can even see Smart yell for a timeout too. It's a shame that this happened, especially since it occurred in the fourth quarter of a one-score game at the time.
There was no late magic for the Tigers and Freeze, with Auburn now at 3-3 on the year. The ref drama is only made worse with the fact that Freeze is potentially coaching for his job this campaign. Calls for him to get fired keep coming in and with James Franklin being let go by Penn State, there are definitely going to be plenty of eyes on Auburn and Freeze moving forward.