Auburn gets screwed royally in Iron Bowl with missed facemask by Alabama

Whatever the opposite of home-cookin' from the referees would be called, the Auburn Tigers saw it first-hand at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday against rival Alabama in the Iron Bowl.

Auburn's first possession was mistake-filled and resulted in a three-and-out, which the Crimson Tide responded with by scoring a touchdown pretty quickly. On the ensuing kickoff, though, controversy struck.

Brian Battle was back to field the kickoff for the Tigers and took the return out of the end zone where he was quickly met by an Alabama defender who mauled him by the facemask. Seemed like an obvious 15-yard penalty, especially when the flag hit the turf.

Only the flag wasn't on Alabama... it was on Auburn, somehow.

Auburn screwed by refs with missed facemask call in Iron Bowl

The Tigers were flagged for an illegal block in the back on the play, which was hardly the most egregious violation on the play. Even in Auburn, the Crimson Tide might still have the officials working for them...

Backed up to their own 4-yard line after the penalty against Auburn somehow, the Tigers quickly punted the ball away. They came up with a big stop against Alabama, though, which proved to be quite the good break for Hugh Freeze's team.

After receiving the punt, Jarquez Hunter got to work with a pair of big-time runs that put Auburn in scoring position. Hunter then finished off his fine work by finding paydirt and tying up the game at 7-7.

Having said that, every fan in attendance in The Plains had to be thinking that the missed facemask was a haunting premonition of what was to come for the remainder of the Iron Bowl. However, based on how Auburn responded, perhaps there's a more optimistic result wherein the missed call is something the team can get galvanized behind and rally.