Saturday was an ugly night. And we’re not talking about the football team.
In the third quarter against Georgia, fans threw beer cans and water bottles onto the field. There were hundreds of them after a pass interference call was assessed on the Texas defense. The call negated an interception and some Longhorns fans took their disagreement with the officiating crew too far.
Fans delayed the game. Now the SEC has responded. UT will be assessed a financial penalty by the Commissioner’s Office.
“The throwing of debris and resulting interruption of play that took place 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.” — SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey
Here is the official wording and penalty.
Under the sportsmanship, game management and alcohol availability policies established by the Southeastern Conference, the University of Texas will:
- 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, which shall include an evaluation of agreed upon SEC Sportsmanship, Game Management and Alcohol policies to verify full compliance with existing standards, and
- 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 SEC Bylaws and Commissioner’s Regulations state “If cans or plastic bottles are used as projectiles or otherwise cause game management issues, the institution is subject to an immediate fine and suspension of the alcohol sales privilege.”
The SEC will not suspend alcohol sales privileges for the University of Texas at this time but reserves the right to do so if other requirements outlined above are not met.