Furious Longhorns fans threw bottles of water and beers onto the field in protest at officiating decisions as Texas versus Georgia descended into chaos.
On Saturday night, No. 5 Georgia stormed to an early lead over No. 1 Texas. Trevor Etienne scored a pair of touchdowns supplemented by Peyton Woodring field goals to establish a 23-0 halftime lead at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium.
Quinn Ewers, who was briefly replaced by Arch Manning, led the Longhorns into the end zone early in the third quarter with a touchdown pass to Isaiah Bond. Texas continued to threaten a comeback, which led to a brutal call – and angry fan protests.
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Carson Beck threw an interception late in the third, but the play was called back for defensive pass interference. This led to an angry response by Texas fans, who threw debris onto the field – including various bottles – as they made their anger known.
The game was temporarily delayed as bottles of water, beer, and other missiles rained down on the field, and furious Texas fans fumed over the call. While their actions may not have been entirely reasonable, the defensive pass interference call on a crucial interception did appear to be soft.
However, the officials sensationally reversed the decision amid the furious outburst from the fans in Austin. If Texas fans didn’t vent their fury in such an aggressive way, Georgia would likely have got ball possession as the officials had already announced the decision and marked the ball ready for the Bulldogs possession.
Fans threw bottles onto the field after a defensive pass interference call overturned an interception against Georgia – only for the officials to controversially reverse the call (
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Subsequently, after taking a sack, Ewers hit Jaydon Blue on a Texas route for a 17-yard touchdown to close the gap and make it 23-15. The reversed decision led to a major swing and ensured the No. 1 Longhorns were in the game.
NBA star Alex Caruso was one of many fans confused by the overturned decision. He took to X to post: “New precedent in CFB.. if you disagree with a call & you just have fans throw as many beer cans on the field as you can.. they’ll reverse it!”
“One could say that throwing those water bottles worked. Not me… But one could,” another fan wrote. FOX Sports personality Skip Bayless also chimed in and questioned the officiating, writing: “Wait, they just overturned a pass interference JUDGEMENT CALL??? Thought that couldn’t be reviewed???”
The controversial reversed call threatened to be a pivotal moment in a crucial ranked game between two college football juggernauts. But the Bulldogs decided to hit back, driving downfield as Etienne punched the ball into the end zone from one yard out for his third touchdown of the contest.
The fierce Georgia defensive front remained effective in the second half, despite the fightback attempt. Mykel Williams forced a strip sack on Ewers in the fourth, which was recovered by Georgia and saw their offense return to the field.
Ewers improved in the second half, sitting on 118 passing yards and two touchdowns since the break. Meanwhile, Beck struggled himself, throwing three interceptions despite Georgia holding on to win 30-15 in the first top-five matchup in Austin since 2006.
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