Auburn AD John Cohen Slams SEC For Referee Screwup In Oklahoma Game, Five Days Later
Tigers athletic department decided to wait five days before releasing statement on touchdown play against Sooners.
It's clear that Auburn is not over the play against Oklahoma that resulted in a Sooners touchdown, which then led to the SEC releasing a statement regarding the blunder.
Five days after the controversial play, and four days after the SEC commented on the matter, Auburn athletic director John Cohen took to social media regarding the play.
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I think it's safe to say that the Tigers are not just ready to move on, though there's nothing that can be done about the touchdown now, given Oklahoma won the game, by seven points.
"After reflecting, I want to take a moment to address what transpired last Saturday at Oklahoma," Cohen started. "Since the game, Auburn University president Dr. Chris Roberts and I have had extensive conversations with Southeastern Conference leadership, including Commissioner Sankey We remain extremely disappointed because our young men prepare each week to compete at the highest level. They deserve to have the game officiated at an optimum level.
"We fully understand the human element of the officiating process. Judgement calls don’t always go your way. Saturday went beyond judgement calls. A specifically emphasized rule was not properly officiated which impacted the game by giving our opponents the lead."
Ok, let's take you back to the play that transpired in Norman.
As you can see in the video above, Oklahoma's Isaiah Sategna was jogging off the field, with folks watching at home, and probably Auburn coaches, thinking he was coming out of the game. But, he stopped just short of the out-of-bounds line, and was left wide open.
This led to Sooners quarterback John Mateer hitting the open receiver for the touchdown.
SEC Acknowledged Mistake, While Auburn Waited Five Days
In the aftermath, SEC officials released a statement emphasizing that the play should not have counted, and that the referees did not enforce the rule. Multiple Oklahoma reporters posted on social media this week that the Sooners had gone over the play with officials and subsequently had it cleared before the game started.
I'd imagine that did not sit well with Auburn coaches, or the SEC for that matter.
But, what's done is done. The game will not be overturned or declared some sort of tie.
In this case, I have to wonder why it took the Auburn administration five days to come out with a statement that could have been released on Monday, or Tuesday.
Nevertheless, Auburn decided that Thursday was the right time to go after the officials, which is obviously a shot at the SEC as well, through AD John Cohen.
"As the SEC acknowledged, the Auburn family and our student-athletes deserved better."
Ok, let's get ready for a wild weekend of college football.