Cam Newton blasts SEC referees for ruining jersey retirement day, getting Hugh Freeze fired

Cam Newton called out the officiating in the SEC, albeit weeks later, as reason why Auburn lost to Georgia. Not only that, the refs ruined his jersey retirement ceremony and they also caused Hugh Freeze’s firing.

In a segment on ESPN talking about Michael Irvin’s wild support of Miami on the sideline in the playoff, Newton said he might aspire to do something like that. He also said something about a belt, like how Irvin was spanking a Texas A&M jersey.

“Maybe it would have been a lot of Charmin and toilet tissue paper thrown on Toomer’s corner, but the fact that the referees had it out on us, somebody is left without a job, and somebody is heart struck because Auburn did not win,” Newton said on First Take. “I hope I could get a belt and get to wiping and smacking and popping anybody, but man, Auburn, if you seen this, you probably will see this. A lot of people don’t even want me to talk anyway.

“If y’all give me a reason to talk, I promise you, you think Michael Irvin did you bad or doing people bad, boy, let me tell you something. All the Tigers gotta do is a fool around or … get a winning season and have some quality wins, you’ll need more than belts.”

In the present, Alex Golesh is the new head coach of the Tigers so there is a rebuild and retooling coming. Still, Newton has major influence at Auburn, given his magic 2010 season, Heisman Trophy, national title and jersey retirement.

“What a time to be alive for me,” Newton said earlier this fall. “Man, I’m grateful. This is a surreal moment for me, and I just want this to be a testament and a testimony for athletes to realize that hard work still pays,” Newton said. “When it came to the game of football, I never cheated. I did everything that the people I needed to listen to told me to do, and I just wanted to execute.

“I’m still that child at heart who, at times, just wants to make my mom and dad proud — and this is something that hopefully I can get their approval from. So thank you to Auburn. This is something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. I’m just happy that my kids could be there to witness it — for them to see it and to think, ‘My dad’s pretty cool too.’ So yeah, it’s awesome.”