The SEC announced Sunday that Texas will be fined and must meet requirements set forth by the Commissioner Greg Sankey after Saturday’s game with Georgia was stopped after fans threw debris on to the field.
“The throwing of debris and resulting interruption of play that took place Saturday night cannot be part of any SEC event,” Sankey said in a released statement. “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.”
Citing policies for sportsmanship, game management and alcohol availability, Texas faces the following:
- Be assessed a financial penalty of $250,000;
- 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.
- Texas will 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.
The SEC won’t suspend alcohol sales for Texas, but, per the release, reserves the right to do so if other requirements outlined above are not met.
A portion of the third quarter of the Georgia-Texas football game was interrupted and delayed when some fans threw objects onto the playing field, interrupting the competitive opportunity for both teams and endangering contest participants.
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.
