“He needs a big season because he’s had two bad seasons out of three. I wouldn’t press my luck with another one,” said ESPN’s Paul Finebaum about Sooners’ head coach Brent Venables back in February. And boy, he was so wrong. Oklahoma is now cruising through a 4-0 record. They hit their latest milestone, landing a 17-24 loss to Hugh Freeze’s Auburn Tigers. But turns out that more than fans, Freeze himself is more upset with his own players…

Both teams struggled with penalties on Saturday. But Freeze’s boys suffered more. The Sooners (9) and the Tigers (13) combined for 22 penalties, including 15 in the first half. Coach Freeze’s take on the penalties? “Undisciplined, bad decisions….man, that was disappointing and certainly undisciplined.”A 40-yard bomb from Jackson Arnold to Cam Coleman set Auburn up nicely in the second quarter, but the momentum fizzled fast with four flags. Two false starts, a hold, and a delay of the game. Later, with just over seven minutes left, Courtland Guillory’s pass interference on fourth-and-6 gifted a fresh set of downs at the goal line.

Seems like Freeze still can’t turn his head around the fact that the 40-yard pass from Arnold to Coleman could have sparked a big scoring drive. But instead, they got cursed with four penalties. Even though Auburn scored a touchdown in the second half, it didn’t exactly reflect sharp, disciplined play on their part. Freeze’s boys luck favored as they relied on Oklahoma’s defensive mistakes rather than executing clean, mistake-free football themselves. 

Auburn wide receiver Malcolm Simmons powered into the end zone, putting Freeze’s squad ahead 17-10 over Oklahoma with 7 minutes 8 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The 14-play, 75-yard march was fueled by a costly fourth-and-6 pass interference penalty by Guillory. Well, Freeze had enough reasons to be upset about his boys. The Tigers’ struggling O-line came back to haunt them as Oklahoma’s relentless pressure led to a safety, putting two points on the board and sealing the win. R. Mason Thomas, returning from last week’s targeting penalty, bagged his second end-zone sack.

“We got to protect, we got to run the ball, and this is one of the better defenses I’ve seen in my three years here. And that’s who we’re counting on. We’re counting on the experience of our O-line to be able to compete against that great defensive front,” that’s how Freeze sounded, all pumped up, hours before their face off. But the Tigers did not find the luck to be in their favor. Thanks to the referees.

Hugh Freeze’s Auburn’s early momentum was wiped out by a controversial call

College football fans might go ‘no, not again’. Freeze’s Auburn got robbed by horrible SEC officiating. Some calls were so bad that fans believe they deserve a check on jobs, eyes, and maybe even school bias. And here came a questionable officiating call that wiped out early Freeeze and Co.’s points and stalled momentum, setting the stage for an Oklahoma field goal.

As Auburn beat writer Peter Rauterkus tweeted, “Freeze says they were trying to get a timeout on the play where Oklahoma its first touchdown, ‘I thought we had it with three seconds on the clock.’”On their first drive, Auburn went three-and-out, giving the ball to Oklahoma and John Mateer. Auburn seemed to have not only stopped the Sooners on their opening series but also appeared to turn a fumble into a potential long touchdown return, a play that could have ignited a road upset. That’s when the referees pulled the reverse gear. 

Less than five minutes in, Auburn fans thought they’d seen a 64-yard fumble return for a touchdown, only for the replay to reverse it. Officials ruled it an incomplete pass by Mateer, wiping away the drama and letting Oklahoma continue its first drive. The disputed 2nd-and-10 from Auburn’s 40 was wiped clean, becoming 3rd-and-10 instead. And what could have been a better opportunity for Venables’ boys?

The Sooners made the most of it, with OU placekicker Tate Sandell knocking through a 49-yard field goal to go up 3-0 with 8 minutes and 32 seconds remaining in the opening quarter. This might put SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey on the hot seat. The SEC office, led by Sankey, has to take the heat for this egregious officiating fiasco. But they are now busy in their search to find a Associate Commissioner under Sankey. Will Hugh Freeze fire off a scathing message to Sankey after costly referee mistakes derailed Auburn?