Auburn DE Marlon Davidson rips officials after loss to Georgia
Auburn trailed Georgia 21-0 at one point in Saturday’s big SEC East-West rivalry game.
The Tigers came roaring back though, cutting the deficit to 21-14 before a late attempt to tie the game came up short.
However, after the game, Auburn DE Marlon Davidson wasn’t happy. He called out the referees for a number of questionable calls that he felt favored Georgia (via AL.com):
“It felt like they were against us,” Davidson said. “I cannot lie about that. It hurts because I feel like some of the calls should’ve went the other way, for sure. They were getting more calls than we got, but (I) can’t speak on the refs; that’s their decision to make. But, you know, it just hurts when you see games being taken away by refs.
“You have to beat the refs and the team. That’s very hard to do, no matter what team you are.”
It seems most players and teams are unhappy with SEC officials this year. Will something be done this offseason?
There are some questions the league office will need to answer moving forward.
Georgia had almost double the penalties than you did and almost double the yards. SEC refs suck, but stop complaining. That’s what losers do, blame someone else when it’s their fault. Dumb comment, look at the stats first.
Auburn actually had more total yards than UGA. UGA having 7 penalties to Auburn’s 4 also doesn’t mean the officials didn’t miss other calls. That wasn’t really the difference in the game, but I understand his frustration, especially on the clear missed face mask on Nix at the end. Not sure how that gets missed. It was pretty obvious.
You need to check your stats on penalty yards auslaw. Ga had 7 for 56yds, Auburn had 4 for 35yds.
Ok…I’m not really sure what the point is you’re trying to making.
Just as bad as LSU game! And Vandy fans, pls not comments as u don’t play football. Just in theory!
Mackyb put a sock in it. If you are a LSU fan (I assume you are) Vandy scored the most points all season against you (Vandy hasnt scored more than 24 points in a game all season). Shows how terrible your defense is, in the CFP against an actual good team, it will get exposed. Oh wait it did against Ole Miss, Texas, Vandy and Bama (all on the road). We will just keep winning natty’s in baseball.
He is an Auburn fan.
LSUSMC,
I assumed wrong. My bad.
Missed obvious calls are the problem and it is endemic to SEC officiating. It is a problem for all, unless you are in the hunt for the playoffs. Find me one person that says there weren’t an incredible number of OL holding penalties not called. They are going to have another officiating seminar for officials again. Did after last year. I always have understood that if the call is too close to change, then should not be reversed or should be called so as not to affect the outcome of a game.
I’m guessing the Auburn offensive line never held a Lsu or UGA defensive lineman in either game…
He was referring to the reviews…. “calls” by the refs doesn’t mean penalties.
I think the Williams call was a tough one for sure. Regardless of call on the field, there just didn’t seem to be enough in the replay to overturn the call.
Auburn was not going to be allowed to knock off GA or LSU because of playoff implications. Al is one they will let fly as al out of it!
His heel came down out of bounds before he had full possession. When you’re moving backwards and step from toe to heel, your heel has to land in bounds. Know the rules.
That’s how you wanted to see it. He caught the ball and was in the process of switching the ball into his right arm to brace for the ground when his heel touched. The other foot was already down in bounds. There clearly wasn’t enough evidence to overturn. Know the rules.
Weagle99, I too was super surprised the call got overturned, but at the same time, the ball clearly rotated. Whether it was because he was switching hands or not, when it’s a matter of whether he had control of it or not when the heel touched l, it was obviously a rotation of the ball and that’s why it was overturned. Again, it was really close and it could have gone either way… Even though I’m definitely glad it when in UGA’s favor.
That is exactly my point! Thank u!
Feeling persecuted is so much easier to believe than the much simpler explanation of incompetence. It’s like the players are turning into fans or something.
So Marlon is incompetent? 1st rd pick. Hmm… poor logic!
Agree very poor logic! You can see it plain as day. I guess that’s the only way they can stop him.
What does him being a first rounder have to do with the fact that Auburn didn’t win the game?
Referees are incompetent. Hmm… poor reading comprehension.
Lmao
Poor writing skills. Your comment could easily have been read to imply incompetence by the players or by the referees.
Only by someone reading through Auburn-colored glasses whilst wearing a tinfoil hat. As proof, I submit your comments about this article.
It means if you hold 2 first round daft pick DL, your offense runs smoothly. Surely I don’t have to explain that to you!
The Refs do suck! The reason this kid is frustrated is because he went through the LSU game with 5-6 no holding calls. Just because they wanted LSU & Alabama To play as #1 and #2 a couple weeks later. The video is all over YouTube, so take a look. It’s about ratings and money
And one of those holds were on a TD play and LSU won by 3
poor guy. sounds like you need you need a hug, but then youd probably scream for a holding penalty.
Good one.
Stay away from your cousin, or is it a family reunion on the bayou?!
You are exactly right. Guess who slowed down fast pace offenses because “ players would get tired and subsequently hurt”? Nick Satan!! That’s who as he had it out through the SEC office. Now that stand over the ball at your play clock time to wait for AL to substitute!! Absolute BS!
Marlon forgot to mention the bubble screen on 3rd down where UGA stopped them well short, play practically over and out of nowhere a time out.
Goes both ways in most games.
On a play that was clearly not a catch. And it was initiated by the replay booth who had to have been looking at the catch. And the whistle was very late. Almost as the Auburn player was being tackled. I don’t think it was nefarious, or intentionally to give Auburn another chance. I just think it was gross incompetence.
If it takes 5-7 minutes to look a a review, you are splitting hairs and unless there is absolute indisputable evidence, then don’t change call. A long review as such tells me going snipe hunting!
Amen
If the refs were doing their job right..they would probably call holding on every play…it seems after after loss now..a team and fanbase want to blame refs…yeah the refs suck…but it usually affects both teams… Auburn made mistakes on offense..the big fumble, missed field goal, and allowing UGA to make a few explosive plays on offense…that’s what cost them the game…not the refs
Easy response from an UGA fan! You swallow the sane pill as AU and see how you feel big boy!
Tyler Simmons was onsides. Don’t talk to UGA fans about bad calls.
^^^
I totally agree. Bad officiating pisses me off and it’s conceivable that it could change outcomes in some cases. But it’s part of the game, the same way that the bounce of the ball is and you have to play well enough to overcome the mistakes of the ref.
sadly, it’s ALL about $$$$$$$$$$ and what they’ve been Instructed to do ☹️
Are you kidding me?? I don’t want to hear you whining about having to play against the refs. Georgia had a player ejected in the 2nd quarter for a targeting call which was complete crap. He dropped his shoulder not the crown of his helmet. There were several facemasks on both sides that weren’t called by the refs. Georgia clearly was playing against the refs more than Auburn.
While I agree that the refs this year for the SEC are absolutely horrible and something needs to be done, they did not play a part in why Auburn lost on Saturday against Georgia. Auburn lost because Georgia showed up and played. Not saying that Auburn didnt because they kept the scoring low but Georgia just played better.
Dude that was textbook targeting
Eh it was a little bit of a grey area to me. I think they were right to call it and it was definitely a blindside block, but he did lower is shoulder first and then lean his head in (not the crown of his helmet) and he didn’t launch himself either. But it was in the grey area where there was forcible contact to the head and neck area (intentional or not) and he has to know that the refs are going to err on the side of player safety. Just saying it wasn’t exactly “textbook”
I thought he launched and you don’t have to lead with your head. It was forcible contact to head and neck area. In my opinion it was pretty obvious
Textbook was the one the safety put on Swift at about the 5 yard line. No call…..
They never call targeting against RBs. It’s bizarre
When I see his cheek pad push his jaw to the other side of his helmet, THAT’S TARGETING, and I am fit in regardless of team. I was HS tailback and getting hit like that literally clears your sinuses out if anyone can identify with that? Watch the review and you’ll beg to differ.
Before Auburn’s second to last drive you could hear the ref yelling at the Auburn staff saying “That play was bs, That play was bs” only he said the whole word. The refs again acted very angry yelling at the auburn staff before the last drive though you couldnt hear it on TV. When THAT happens, people tend to think bias
Actually he was yelling at the auburn assistant coach because they were whining about where the ref spotted the ball after a punt went out of bounds. The only thing I could hear him say was something about game management.
This SEC ref crew we had I cannot stand. There were bad calls for both teams and I feel most bad calls were against us, but you cannot control what the refs call. Just go out there and do your job, OK? Control what you can control, that’s all.
Hey mackyb..just so you know I said same thing to UGA fans that were whining about the refs, after the 2018 title game…bigboy…
Checkmate big boy! So you were wrong both times?
Ok whatever… bigboy
Aww Marlon… You just got beat by a far superior team, thats all… It’ll be ok…
Davidson is too good of a player to resort to this crap. He won some and lost some on the LOS. AUs DLine is all NFL caliber and went up against an OLine that most are NFL caliber…. good matchup! Dawgs got the better of em this time. Those guys are the best we’ll face all year!
Not sure how many of you were at game. I was. Credit to UGA they won. What Davidson is referring to is a 15 yd horse collar penalty he was called on that was not a horse collar penalty. Not sure what CBS chose to show on TV but clearly replay on Jumbotron showed it wasn’t. That set up the drive for UGAs third TD. The missed face mask at end was not called. Every play the refs reviewed they overturned when evidence was disputable. While the refs are humans and all games have calls that are missed not sure why we need refs on field any more as they clearly don’t seem to get calls right if majority of calls are being overturned. Many of you missed Marlons point that you have to play against the opponent and the refs. That’s always been true for all teams and Auburn didn’t play well enough to overcome the ref play calling or UGAs game plan. When we played LSU they were holding our line and not calling it so Davidson’s frustration growing. Don’t blame these guys. They bust their tails and we’ll see 5-3-1 on Sunday soon. And sadly if we don’t fix poor officiating in college football guys like them won’t stick around longer to play. Let head coaches have a challenge flag to review a penalty call or lack of in key plays. Keep the game fair for all.
If you go back and watch the play on film, it was “technically” a horse collar as the rule goes. However, it doesn’t look to me that Davidson “intended” to tackle that way. He slipped on the tackle and his hand naturally moved down and he grabbed. It was the right call and Davidson is still a great player.
It was definitely a horse collar tackle, intentional or not.
They changed the rule in 2017 to include the outside of the jersey in the nameplate area.
This wasn’t about Auburn at all – it was about FLORIDA! The SEC knows Florida is really the best team in the country, and if Georgia would have lost, then they would have lost again next week, and Florida would have beaten LSU in Atlanta. Then Florida would have one the Natty!
At least you should know the real conspiracy behind things. Long live the Illuminati!!!
That’s awesome!
There is a word in the dictionary for those who complain about officiating after a sporting event- “loser”.
The official in this game did a way better job then in the LSU game. That game was obviously officiated to give LSU the upper hand. Blatant holding on almost every play.
But the missed face mask in this one was really bad a a critical time. I think that is one they should be able view in replay and change since it’s a safety of play issue.