Dec 21, 2013; Albuquerque, NM, USA; NCAA referee Ken Williamson during the game between the Colorado State Rams against the Washington State Cougars during the Gildan New Mexico Bowl at University Stadium. Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
By Sam Neumann on

Terry McAulay called the SEC’s decision to permanently suspend veteran referee Ken Williamson “insane.”

The NBC rules analyst, who officiated in the NFL for 20 years before moving to broadcasting, spent Wednesday afternoon ripping the reported suspension on social media. Williamson won’t call another SEC game after his crew’s performance during Auburn’s 20-10 loss to Georgia on October 11, according to Yellowhammer News. The SEC received 11 complaints about Williamson and his crew from that game and validated nine of them. The conference declined to comment.

McAulay appeared to confirm the report himself while unloading on the decision across multiple posts. Williamson is 58 years old and has officiated football for 41 years, including 21 seasons in the SEC. He worked the 2021 SEC Championship Game and served as an alternate for a College Football Playoff semifinal.

McAulay thinks ending Williamson’s career over one bad game is wrong.

“This is insane,” McAulay wrote on X. “Ken is a very good Referee and has been for a very long time.”

McAulay, who serves as a rules analyst for both NBC’s NFL and college football coverage, acknowledged that Williamson’s crew didn’t have a good game. But he pointed out that bad games happen to everyone in sports.

“I’ve commented on the Ga/Auburn game and no, the crew did not have a very good game,” McAulay wrote. “It happens to officials, just as it happens to coaches and players.”

The Auburn-Georgia game included two controversial sequences that drew national attention.

The first came in the second quarter with Auburn leading 10-0 and facing first-and-goal at the Georgia 1-yard line. Quarterback Jackson Arnold appeared to break the plane on a quarterback sneak before losing control of the football. Georgia cornerback Kyron Jones recovered the fumble.

ABC’s broadcast showed multiple angles suggesting Arnold had crossed the goal line before the ball came loose. Officials ruled it a fumble before the plane, and the call stood after review. Georgia took possession, drove 88 yards, and kicked a field goal to cut Auburn’s lead to 10-3 at halftime.

Auburn athletic director John Cohen was caught on camera confronting Williamson as the teams headed to the locker room.

The second controversy came in the third quarter with Auburn trailing 13-10. Georgia faced 3rd-and-9 with the play clock winding down when head coach Kirby Smart sprinted down the sideline, making a timeout signal with his hands. Officials blew the whistle and granted the timeout.

Smart then argued he wasn’t calling a timeout. He claimed he was clapping to alert officials that Auburn players were clapping their hands trying to draw Georgia offside, which would be a penalty. Officials reset the play clock without charging Georgia a timeout.

“I didn’t need a timeout because we were going to get it off before the shot clock,” Smart said after the game. “I wanted them to call it because it’s a penalty.”

Georgia won 20-10.

McAulay said permanently suspending an official for one bad game sets a dangerous precedent.

“I look forward to the day an AD suspends his coach for, in a single game, poor clock management, allowing players to feign injury, bad play calls, etc.,” McAulay wrote. “Or let’s permanently bench a QB for throwing a game-ending interception regardless of his past performance.”

McAulay shared a story from his own officiating career to illustrate his point.

In 2004, his crew worked a Steelers-Bengals game early in the season where nothing went right. “We knew it during the game, and the more we tried to dig ourselves out, the worse it got,” he wrote. “If we called something, it was incorrect. If we didn’t, we should have.”

That season, the Super Bowl went to the highest-ranked crew. McAulay’s crew wasn’t suspended after that rough game. They worked the rest of the season and ended up ranked first overall.

“We were not permanently suspended nor were we suspended for a single game,” McAulay wrote. “We ended up the top-ranked crew and worked SB 39.”

The contrast between how McAulay’s crew was handled and Williamson’s situation is exactly his point.

“If this is solely based on that one game, then shame on everyone involved,” McAulay wrote. “It’s yet another reason why Conferences should not oversee officiating and will forever be a dark stain on college football.”

McAulay also took aim at Auburn’s role in the decision, suggesting athletic director John Cohen influenced the outcome after confronting Williamson at halftime.

“Unfortunately, the Auburn AD appears to have the power to end a career because he thinks his team was slighted,” McAulay added.

The suspension comes during a season where SEC officiating has faced repeated criticism. Three weeks before Auburn-Georgia, officials missed an illegal substitution that led to an Oklahoma touchdown against Auburn. The SEC issued a public apology, and commissioner Greg Sankey personally called Auburn coach Hugh Freeze to express disappointment.

Williamson’s 41-year officiating career is seemingly over because of one October night in Auburn.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann