A pass interference penalty called against the University of Texas with 2:40 left in the third quarter of its game Saturday night against Georgia led mostly student fans to rain water bottles onto the field at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin.
The University of Texas issued an apology for the fan behavior, but was subsequently fined $250,000 by the Southeastern Conference, according to ESPN. The game was stalled several minutes by the fan reaction to what appeared to be the negation a Longhorns’ interception at a critical moment in their comeback attempt, trailing the Bulldogs at the time, 23-8. As Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian walked toward the end zone littered with hundreds of bottles to plead with fans to stop, officials reversed the call, saying there was no penalty on the play. That, in turn, didn’t sit well with Georgia coach Kirby Smart or his athletic director, Josh Brooks.
“Now we’ve set 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,” Smart said after the game. “And that’s unfortunate because, to me, that’s dangerous. That’s not what we want, and that’s not criticizing officials. That’s what happened.”…