Observations: Oklahoma 24, Auburn 17
Even with massive officiating decisions that went against them, the Tigers still had chances to win their SEC opener. But they didn't.
NORMAN, Okla. — Whether they’re from a coach, player or a fan, there will be plenty of complaints about the officiating from the orange-and-blue side of Auburn at Oklahoma on Saturday.
Those complaints will be justified.
The first touchdown of the day, a 63-yard scoop-and-score by Auburn cornerback Kayin Lee, was taken off the board after replay review. Oklahoma would kick a field goal with that second life, getting a 10-point swing on one decision.
Oklahoma’s first touchdown, a 24-yard pass from John Mateer to Isaiah Sategna III, should have also been ruled an illegal play. Sategna acted like he was being substituted off the field, only to stop short of the sideline and go down the field completely uncovered.
There are rules against that. Auburn also tried to call timeout when it saw that Oklahoma was attempting the deception. The play stood anyway.
“I better be quiet,” head coach Hugh Freeze said afterwards. “They said they didn’t hear us trying to call timeout. We were instructed all offseason about deceptive plays. We’ll see what’s said. I really don’t know what will be said about that.”
Later, on the deciding drive of the game, a deep pass from Oklahoma was ruled incomplete but overturned to a catch after another replay review. It was a twist of the knife for Auburn’s defense, which saw what appeared to be a clearer-cut completion get ruled an incompletion on the scoop-and-score. Mateer ran the ball in from nine yards out on the next snap to give the hosts a late lead.
Those were three touchdowns affected by officiating decisions, or the lack thereof, in a game ultimately decided by seven points.
It’s foolish to talk about Auburn’s 24-17 road loss to Oklahoma on Saturday without acknowledging those controversial and critical moments. One or two of those go the other way, and the Tigers are winners.
And that might be enough for some people to take from this game.
But it’s also foolish to act like Auburn didn’t have chances to win in spite of the things that went against it. And, after the game, the Tigers wanted to talk more about what they didn’t do than what did happen to them.
“We beat ourselves today,” senior running back and team captain Damari Alston said. “I think everyone feels like this, to be honest.”
Just look at what Freeze said to open his postgame comments.
“Yeah, tough,” Freeze said. “Tough. A really dang good football team, particularly defensively. They do a lot of good things. We had 13 penalties, and you're just not gonna win on the road in this league when you do that to yourself.”
Yes, it only took Freeze a few seconds to talk about how the Tigers were flagged 13 times — the most they had in a game that didn’t go into overtime since a road loss at eventual national champion LSU in 2019.
Auburn’s first offensive drive had a second-and-3 at the Oklahoma 4 and ended in a short field goal. Auburn’s third offensive drive officially went nine yards and ended on a punt-team turnover, despite having a 40-yard completion in it. Auburn’s fifth offensive drive, coming off a forced turnover, got into Oklahoma territory and ended with back-to-back sacks before a punt.
In the second half, Auburn had a drive start with a 44-yard run into Oklahoma territory. The next pass, a double move for a clear-cut touchdown by Cam Coleman, was thrown too far by Jackson Arnold. That was followed by another incompletion, a false start and a short pass on third-and-long. The Tigers then asked a kicker to make his first field goal attempt of the season from 50 yards. It missed.
And still, through all of that, Auburn got two fourth-down conversions to score a go-ahead touchdown with 7:08 left to play.
Oklahoma fired back with a six-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to retake the lead. Auburn responded with a possession that started at its own 8 due to yet another special teams error.
After one first down, the Tigers had an Arnold run for 0 yards, a holding call on a sack, a false start, another Arnold run for 0 yards, another sack and yet another sack — the 10th of the game — for a safety.
So, yes, Auburn walked off the field Saturday with plenty of frustrations. The biggest ones should be reserved for the mistakes the Tigers made themselves, because they’re the only ones they can control.
“I just feel like when we lock in, do our assignments, we’re a really damn good football team,” linebacker Robert Woodyard Jr. said.
Besides, this is a team that has players wear shirts that say “GOOD” on them. It’s a response, coined by defensive coordinator DJ Durkin, for whenever adversity strikes.
“We kind of have a saying now, ‘What’s our response? Good. Let’s play the next one,’” Freeze said afterwards. “You’ve proven you’re a good football team to go toe-to-toe with a team that’s going to win a lot of football games, in their place.
“We did take care of the football, but you can’t have 13 penalties and the special teams played like it did and put us in the hole all night long against that defense… That’s what the film says. We’ve got to get better at protecting and continuing to find ways to run the ball, but you’re right there in it.”
Auburn was right there in it, but it still wound up on the losing end of the scoreboard. That has now happened more times (15) than it hasn’t (14) under Freeze. Twelve of those 15 losses — and only five of those 14 wins — have come in SEC play.
Now a third of the way through Year 3, Freeze and his staff can’t afford to keep saying these same things after games longer. It’s not like the tests get much easier from here.
Here are four Observations from Auburn’s 24-17 loss at Oklahoma, along with the Quote of the Day.
All of those dropbacks were more bust than boom
Arnold finished Saturday with 32 pass attempts against his former team. He was also marked down for 21 rushing attempts, although 10 of them were Oklahoma’s school record-breaking sack count.
That’s a grand total of 53 plays in which Arnold threw the ball, or they finished with the ball in his hands. On those plays, Auburn averaged just 3.94 yards — and that includes the first two 40-yard passes of the season for the Tigers.
Those plays represented 76.8% of Auburn’s offensive snaps Saturday.