Did thrown bottles inspire discussion that changed call in the Georgia-Texas game?

The officials got the call wrong. Then they talked about it and got the call correct.

At least that’s how the first two paragraphs of the SEC’s statement on a controversial reversed call in the Georgia–Texas game read.

“With 3:12 to play in the third quarter of the Georgia at Texas game, Texas intercepted a pass at the Texas 46-yard line and returned it to the [Georgia] 9-yard line. Texas was flagged for committing defensive pass interference on the play which resulted in Georgia maintaining the ball with a first down.  

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.  Consequently, Texas was awarded the ball at the [Georgia] 9-yard line.”

This would be the equivalent of J.R.R. Tolkien writing that Bilbo Baggins left the Shire and then wound up back in the Shire with nary a mention of dwarves or a dragon or a discovered ring. Some stuff happened in the middle that matters quite a bit.

Ditto for this call. Officials did botch it initially. It was similar to the action that was (correctly) called pass interference against Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith late in the Buckeyes’ loss at Oregon last week, only this time Georgia receiver Arian Smith’s shove-off of Texas cornerback Jahdae Barron shoved Barron into the path of Carson Beck’s pass. Barron caught it and took off toward the end zone. But Barron was the one flagged for pass interference, so his interception was wiped away and Georgia was awarded a first down. The call was so obviously wrong that after video boards in the stadium showed the replay Texas fans began throwing bottles on the field in protest. (Unlike the Ole Miss–Tennessee game in Knoxville in 2021, there didn’t seem to be any mustard bottles or golf balls thrown.)

The time required to clean up the debris was what allowed officials to huddle and ultimately correct the call a little less than five minutes later. Had no Texas fan thrown anything, it seemed officials may have been content to move on without reversing the call. Fans began throwing debris within a minute of the call being made, and the officials can be seen huddling during the cleanup about two and a half minutes after the call was made. 

The SEC did get around to mentioning what happened in the middle in paragraphs three and four of its statement, but the league never quite connected the events — which seems a bit disingenuous.

“While the original evaluation and assessment of the penalty was not properly executed, it is unacceptable to have debris thrown on the field at any time.

“The disruption of the game due to debris being thrown onto the field will be reviewed by the Conference office related to SEC sportsmanship policies and procedures.”

The conference also needs to review why it appears that it took a storm of thrown bottles for the officials to get together and correct the call. Because Georgia coach Kirby Smart, whose team won 30-15, made an excellent point after the game.

“I want to respect the wishes of the SEC office, but I will say that 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 told reporters. “That’s unfortunate, because to me that’s dangerous. That’s not what we want. That’s not criticizing officials. That’s what happened.”

It’s exactly what happened, and the mechanics of the reversal should be explained in a more thorough way. It won’t be the first such explanation this season. Last week, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey had to explain that officials missed Smart shoving Mississippi State quarterback Michael Van Buren during Georgia’s win on Oct. 12 while trying to get to an official to argue a call. Smart apologized to Van Buren; Sankey said the incident should have been flagged and a 15-yard penalty assessed.

The league needs to explain whether the bottle-throwing initiated the discussion. Perhaps the officials had already begun debating whether the call was correct when the bottles came raining down. It isn’t out of the ordinary at all for an official to throw a flag and then, upon conferring with fellow officials, decide to pick up the flag or adjust the call. But that discussion came so much later Saturday that it seemed the bottle-throwing caused the discussion. As Smart pointed out, the mere idea that the bottle throwing influenced the change sets a bad precedent.

Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks added his two cents a few hours later on X.

“I will challenge the conference office on what happened and how it happened in the manner it did,” Brooks wrote. “Thankfully this did not cost our young men a hard fought win.

“Disagreeing with a singular call is natural and will happen several times in every football game. I can accept that. What I cannot accept is the manner in which this specific call was reversed. The official claimed he erred in the call. My question is when did he realize the error?

“If it was before the delay that occurred due to fans throwing objects on the field, what stopped him before the head official made the announcement and spotted the ball?”

Brooks tried to be as respectful as possible here, so hopefully SEC leaders read the room and don’t fine him. They should answer his questions honestly.

As technology improves, perhaps there is a way to help officials reach the correct call faster — and hopefully before anything gets thrown. The NFL has an expedited replay system in which the replay officials in the league’s command center quickly communicate with on-field officials to ensure they get various calls — including intentional grounding and potential late hits out of bounds — correct. Would it be so harmful if someone at a college conference’s command center or in-stadium replay booth buzzed the on-field referee within seconds of watching the play and said “You guys may want to huddle and talk about that one?” 

It doesn’t mean the officials have to change the call. But it could help some calls get corrected because officials want to get calls correct. They don’t want to rewatch the game and realize they got something wrong that affected the final score. They do a thankless job, and they take pride in their work. 

Unfortunately, the way this reversal played out makes it seem the officials didn’t discuss the possibility that the call may have been wrong until the fans started throwing garbage. And Smart is correct. That’s not what the officials or coaches want. The response to a call a fan disagrees with can’t be “If I throw this beer can, the call might get reversed.” 

It’s good that officials were willing to admit they’d initially erred, but it would have been nice if the correction could have come before the storm of cans and bottles.