Trailing 23-8 in Saturday’s game against Georgia, Texas got a huge play when Jahdae Barron intercepted a Carson Beck pass and returned it to the Bulldogs nine-yard line. Two plays later, the Longhorns cut the deficit to 23-15 on a touchdown pass from Quinn Ewers to Jaydon Blue.
But in between the interception and the touchdown, a lot happened.
Initially, it looked as though the interception would not count. Barron was called for pass interference, negating his interception (as well as the subsequent return) and giving the ball back to Georgia, with a first down.
“There’s contact both ways,” analyst Kirk Herbstreit said, asking for the opinion of rules expert Bill LeMonnier. But before LeMonnier offered his take, play-by-play man shared his.
“On, no, no,” Fowler said, not agreeing with the call. “Come on, really?”
LeMonnier then weighed in and shared the opinion of Fowler.
“The defender has a right to get in front of him. I don’t see him (Barron) holding him (Georgia receiver Arian Smith). I see the offense player, as much attacking him.”
At that point, someone in the crowd threw a beer can onto the field. Shortly thereafter, the game was delayed even more by more debris being thrown onto the field from the Texas student section.
“Students are now raining bottles down; this is unfortunate,” Fowler said. “This is gonna delay the game…they’re not gonna win the Taco Bell contest at this rate.”
Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian then walked toward the student section. And while he didn’t grab a microphone like Sam Wyche and remind the students that they don’t live in College Station, he did tell the fans to stop throwing things onto the field. At this point, the game was ready to resume — or so it seemed.
“The SEC has a reputation as being a conference where contact on the edge is tolerated,” Fowler said as the officials conferred. “It’s a very physical conference. The defensive backs play it physically.”
Herbstreit wondered if the officials were “talking about the bottles.”
“It could be a discussion about that,” LeMonnier added “Personally I’d leave it alone. You’re gonna have things like this happen once in a great while. Leave it alone. Move on with the game.”
As it turned out, that was not what the officials were discussing. The pass interference flag was being picked up. No penalties were assessed and Texas was getting the ball on the Georgia nine-yard line.
“Oh my goodness,” Fowler said. “They have changed the call, which is an enormous moment in this game. Are you surprised they changed it, Bill?”
“Yeah, I’m surprised,” LeMonnier said. “I’d like to know how it came about, who stepped up, who came in to talk about it. Because it’s not reviewable. It would have to be an on-field decision.”
The wild reality of this whole exchange is that, without the delay caused by the Texas fans throwing bottles onto the field, the officials may not have thought to overturn the call.
The Longhorns did score two plays later to cut the deficit to eight points, but that was short-lived. Georgia scored a touchdown on its next possession to go up 30-15, which stood as the final score.
[Photo Credit: ABC]
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