AUSTIN, Texas — The University of Texas will be assessed a financial penalty and must meet specific requirements set forth by the Commissioner following an interruption of its game against the University of Georgia where fans threw trash onto the field, the Southeastern Conference announced on Sunday.
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The SEC said that Texas will be assessed a financial penalty of $250,000 along with the following requirements:
- Be required to use all available resources, including security, stadium and television video, to identify individuals who threw objects onto the playing field or at the opposing team. All individuals identified as having been involved in disrupting the game shall be prohibited from attending Texas Athletics events for the remainder of the 2024-25 academic and athletic year.
- Review and update its Athletics Department game management procedures and alcohol availability policies to prevent a recurrence of Saturday night’s disruption, which shall include an evaluation of agreed upon SEC Sportsmanship, Game Management and Alcohol policies to verify full compliance with existing standards.
- Following completion of this review, the University shall provide a report to the Conference Office to summarize its efforts to identify and penalize offenders and its plan to enact policies to prevent future similar incidents while ensuring compliance with Conference standards.
The Conference is not suspending alcohol sales privileges for the University of Texas at this time but said it reserves the right to do so if the above requirements are not met.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said that the throwing of debris and resulting interruption that took place on Saturday night cannot be part of any SEC event.
"The SEC is assigned responsibility by its membership to enforce its sportsmanship and game management policies, and these actions are consistent with that oversight responsibility, including the financial penalty and mandated reviews," Sankey said.
On Saturday night, Georgia coach Kirby Smart was initially careful with his words when asked about Texas fans littering the north end of the field with water bottles and other trash after an interception for the top-ranked Longhorns was briefly wiped out by a pass-interference penalty before officials changed their call.
“I won’t comment because I want to respect the wishes of the SEC office,” Smart first said when asked about the disruption during the fifth-ranked Bulldogs' 30-15 victory Saturday night. "But I will say now we have a precedent that if you throw a bunch of stuff on the field and endanger athletes, that you’ve got a chance to get your call reversed.”
The Southeastern Conference released a statement on early Sunday that said officials made the proper decision with no penalty on the play with 3:12 left in the third quarter. There was contact between cornerback Jahdae Barron and receiver Arian Smith before the pick.
“The game officials gathered to discuss the play, which is permitted to ensure the proper penalty is enforced, at which time the calling official reported that he erred, and a foul should not have been called for defensive pass interference,” the statement read.
Texas issued a joint statement from Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife, President Jay Hartzell and athletic director Chris Del Conte that condemned the bottle-throwing and apologized to Georgia players and staff, the SEC and game officials.
“This type of behavior will not be tolerated,” the statement said. “We are committed to fostering a positive environment for all participants, teams, officials, and fans, and we will take steps to ensure that this type of behavior does not happen again.”
Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian was irate at officials for the call that had appeared to take away Barron's 36-yard interception return to the Georgia 9. The coach then headed toward the far corner of the field, signaling to the student section to settle down and quit throwing things.
“I understand the frustration," Sarkisian said. “We all were frustrated in the moment. But, you know ... all of Longhorn Nation, I know we can be better than that.”
As the debris was being removed, officials were discussing the play and picked up the flag.
Smart was then protesting to official Matt Loeffler, who the coach said told him that the initial penalty was called on the wrong guy.
“It took him a long time to realize that,” said Smart, who was then asked who was the right guy. "I guess the offensive guy. You know, 11 (Smith) and 7 (Barron), two distinct numbers. I don’t know in all of my coaching career if I’ve ever seen that happen that way.”
Sarkisian said the officials never told him why the call was changed.
Two plays after the reversal, Quinn Ewers threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Jaydon Blue to get the Longhorns to 23-15 after they had trailed 23-0 at halftime.
“We were able to get that stopped and get that kind of taken care of and then regroup,” Sarkisian said of the disruption. “Then they overturned that call, gave us an opportunity to get a short field and punch one in and close it to a one-score game.”
