Texas has been reprimanded for the actions of its fans on Saturday, as the SEC announced a $250,000 fine among other penalties.
In the third quarter of Saturday’s game, Texas fans tossed trash onto the field to voice their displeasure at an officiating decision.
“The throwing of debris and resulting interruption of play that took place Saturday night cannot be part of any SEC event,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said in a 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.”
In addition to the fine, Texas will face the following penalties as well:
- 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.
Though it reserves the right to suspend alcohol sales at the stadium, the SEC announced it would not be taking that action.
Sankey has not yet commented on the officiating on Saturday’s game, specifically an overturned during the delay caused by the trash on the field. The SEC released a statement hours before its decision to fine Texas.
Georgia Director of Athletics Josh Brooks and coach Kirby Smart both commented on the events.
“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 said. “And that’s unfortunate, because to me, that’s dangerous. That’s not what we want. That’s not criticizing officials. That’s what happened.”
Georgia defeated Texas 30-15, which moved the Bulldogs to No. 2 in the latest AP Poll.
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