SEC referee Ken Williamson’s final game was Georgia’s win over Auburn.
According to ESPN, Williamson has been suspended for the remainder of the 2025 season. Yellowhammer News, which first reported Williamson’s suspension on Wednesday, said that Williamson had been “permanently suspended” after controversial calls dominated the game on Oct. 11.
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Per ESPN, Williamson had told the league at the start of the season that he intended to retire at its conclusion. Yellowhammer News reported the conference reviewed 11 complaints sent to the league office and deemed nine of them to have merit. According to the Athletic, five of the nine favored Georgia and the other four favored the Tigers.
Williamson is one of the league’s most recognizable officials, especially for longtime fans of SEC teams. The biggest call in the Bulldogs’ 20-10 win came just before halftime, when Auburn QB Jackson Arnold tried to jump over his offensive line on a sneak into the end zone as the Tigers led 10-0.
Officials ruled on the field that the ball didn’t break the plane of the goal line before the ball was knocked out of Arnold’s hands by linebacker Raylen Wilson. The replay — which Auburn fans would say definitely showed that Arnold got into the end zone while Georgia fans would say it proved he didn’t break the plane before losing the ball — wasn’t deemed indisputable evidence and the call on the field stood.
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Georgia’s Kyron Jones recovered the fumble and ran 99 yards to the other end zone after he never went to the ground. However, officials gave Georgia possession at its own 1-yard line.
The Bulldogs kicked a field goal to cut Auburn’s lead to 10-3 before halftime and scored 17 straight points in the second half. As Williamson walked off the field, he was vociferously confronted by Auburn coach Hugh Freeze and athletic director John Cohen.
As the Bulldogs had the ball in the fourth quarter, Georgia coach Kirby Smart clearly was signaling for timeout to the official on the Georgia sideline. The game was briefly stopped as officials conferred before not officially charging Georgia with a timeout and resetting the play clock.
After the game, Smart said that he was telling officials that Auburn’s defense was clapping to mimic the snap count. That is classified as a defensive delay of game penalty. While Smart’s defense does hold up a bit — it does look very clear that he’s telling officials as the game is stopped that Auburn players were clapping — he absolutely signaled for a timeout.
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That game was also not the first where Auburn felt it was on the wrong side of officiating mistakes. The SEC admitted after the Tigers’ loss to Oklahoma that officials should have flagged Oklahoma’s trick-play touchdown for unsportsmanlike conduct. Williamson’s crew was not involved in that game.
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