Hugh Freeze admits he disagreed with 'quite a few' officiating calls vs. Oklahoma

Hugh Freeze was understandably upset about several questionable calls made against Auburn in last Saturday’s 24-17 loss at Oklahoma, and he made his feelings known the SEC offices in Birmingham. Freeze’s frustration was evident by the sheer volume of plays the third-year Tigers coach submitted to the league offices for official review, with Freeze admitting he “went over my quota” later Monday.

At least one particular play — Isaiah Sategna‘s second-quarter touchdown that gave the Sooners a 10-3 lead — led the SEC to release a statement describing the trick play as “unfair tactics” after Sategna feigned subbing out only to be left wide open for a 24-yard touchdown. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey even made it a point to personally apologize to Freeze for the officiating gaffes.

On Monday, Freeze revealed “there were quite a few” calls from the game that he submitted to SEC offices, though acknowledged nothing can be done to reverse those calls at this point.

“There were quite a few that I disagreed with,” Freeze said during Monday’s press conference. “I have great respect for our SEC office and the job that they do, they have a tough job. There’s a fine line. You want so badly to defend your team, your players, your university. It’s a difficult position. And so I try to have respect for all sides, and it’s certainly hard to just accept.

“My grandfather always told me ‘Life’s not fair, get used to it and move on,’ so that’s been my approach this morning with our team — we’re going to move on to A&M. As disappointing as (Saturday was), I think everybody has their own opinion of the different calls made or not made in any given game. I know everybody shares an opinion on those in this (past) game, and I shared mine. And I’ve voiced those to the people that it matters to, but ultimately we can’t do anything about (the bad calls), so we’ve got to turn the page and move onto A&M.”

Auburn (3-1, 0-1 SEC) fell out of the AP Top 25 following the loss Saturday, but has a chance to redeem itself over the next several weeks. The Tigers hit the road again this upcoming Saturday at No. 9 Texas A&M (3:30 pm ET, ESPN) ahead of upcoming home games against No. 5 Georgia (3-0, 1-0) and No. 20 Missouri (4-0, 1-0).

Paul Finebaum: Texas A&M game is Auburn’s ‘Waterloo’ moment after Oklahoma loss

Paul Finebaum believes everything is riding on Week 5 for Auburn. After a tough loss this past weekend to Oklahoma, the Tigers will face Texas A&M this coming Saturday, and all their chips will have to be pushed into the center of the table.

Finebaum joined The Matt Barrie Show to elaborate on his thought process. Auburn’s loss to the Sooners, combined with their difficult schedule, makes this weekend’s game against the Aggies an all-important one.

“I think Texas A&M is a top-ten team, and this could be the Waterloo for Auburn,” Finebaum stated. “You can’t go on the road and lose both of these games, because they still have Georgia in three weeks and Alabama after that.

“There’s a lot left for them to deal with, and what was otherwise a fair schedule looks a lot tougher. They also have Vanderbilt, which we can talk about another time, but they’ve looked really good, so that’s a big game.”

— On3’s Steve Samra contributed to this report.