Our Terms & Conditions | Our Privacy Policy
AUSTIN, Texas — While most Georgia football fans were probably sleeping, athletic director Josh Brooks took to social media early Sunday to weigh in publicly on a reversed pass interference call made by the SEC officiating crew Saturday night in Georgia’s upset of No. 1 Texas.
Talk of the decision dominated coach Kirby Smart’s postgame comments on TV after the game and in his press conference after the 30-15 win of the Longhorns.
Brooks said in a 4:06 a.m. post on X, formerly Twitter, that he was “disappointed and frustrated in some of the circumstances of our game Saturday night,” and was standing up for Georgia by challenging the SEC office.
Smart said in his postgame press conference that the decision that gave Texas the ball at the Georgia 9-yard after a delay because debris was thrown on the field by fans “set a precedent,” to get a call changed.
It resulted in this case in a Carson Beck interception which led to a Texas touchdown.
“The official claimed he erred in the call,” Brooks said. “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 made the announcement and spotted the ball?”
Brooks’ statement came hours after the SEC released a statement. It came in the same week when SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said he spoke to Brooks by phone — not Smart — after Smart shoved a Mississippi State quarterback near the sideline at the end of a Georgia win.
Here in full is the Brooks Statement and the SEC statement.
Josh Brooks’ statement:
It is my privilege and duty to serve the University of Georgia and part of that responsibility is to stand up for my coaches, student-athletes, staff, and all of Dawg Nation.
As proud as I am of the resolve our team had, I am also equally disappointed and frustrated in some of the circumstances of our game Saturday night.
I don’t find it productive to publicly demean or embarrass officials or the conference office via social media. That would be no better than the physical action of throwing objects on the field.
However, I will challenge the conference office on what happened and how it happened in the manner it did. 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?
I have faith we, as a conference, will learn from this and get better. We must, because in the SEC it just means more.
Statement from SEC office
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 Texas 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 Texas 9 yard line.
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.
Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.
Aggregated From –
Comments are closed.