Auburn caught some bad breaks in their loss to Georgia on Saturday, and Hugh Freeze believes the Bulldogs received favorable treatment from the officiating crew on at least two of those plays.
Georgia came from behind to beat Auburn 20-10 on Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala. The turning point in the game came late in the first half, when it appeared the Tigers had scored a touchdown to take a 16-0 lead on a quarterback sneak from Jackson Arnold.
Arnold lost control of the ball on the play, and it was ruled a fumble. Georgia recovered inside the 1-yard line.
Replays appeared to show that the nose of the football crossed the plane before Arnold lost control. However, the officiating crew did not feel there was enough evidence to overturn the call on the field.
THE REFS RULED THIS A FUMBLE 😱
— ESPN (@espn) October 12, 2025
GEORGIA PUNCHES IT OUT AT THE GOAL LINE‼️ pic.twitter.com/XdIgYywx5s
Georgia drove 88 yards and kicked a field goal on the ensuing drive. The Bulldogs trailed 10-3 at halftime but were fortunate to not be down 17-0 after the goal line fumble.
Then in the fourth quarter, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart appeared to successfully lie his way out of burning a timeout. Georgia was leading 13-10 and had 3rd-and-9 at the Auburn 29-yard line. The play was blown dead just before the play clock hit 0, as Georgia was awarded a timeout. Smart immediately sprinted onto the field and told an official that he was clapping his hands and not calling for a timeout, however.
The officials then announced that the whistle was inadvertent since Georgia did not ask for a timeout, which led to the down being replayed. ESPN replays clearly showed that Smart made the timeout signal with his hands while running toward an official.
Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy try to make sense of Kirby Smart getting off the hook for calling a timeout here. pic.twitter.com/L6Bk43fuvs
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 12, 2025
Georgia ended up missing a field goal on the drive, but they were able to keep their timeout.
Freeze was understandably frustrated after the game. He felt like Auburn broke the plane on the touchdown run and also said he could not understand why Georgia was given a free do-over on third down.
“There’s a lot of times that I make bad calls. Officials do the same, but it certainly feels like we’re not getting many of the breaks,” Freeze said.
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
Georgia made the right halftime adjustments and clamped down on Auburn defensively in the second half, but it is hard to blame Freeze for feeling like the Bulldogs got all the breaks.
