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Austin’s big sports weekend, filled with excitement and expectation going into it, ended instead with unexpected fan conduct, recriminations, apologies, and even a fine.
The hometown Texas Longhorns, college football’s No. 1 team heading into the weekend, lost on the field 30-15 to No. 5 Georgia on Saturday night, sinking the top ranking to a No. 5 slot in new polls released Sunday. It was much worse in the stands, though, as Longhorns fans littered the north end of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium with water bottles and trash to protest a pass-interference penalty that wiped out a defensive interception for Texas.
Officials soon reversed the call, and the Southeastern Conference later confirmed that there was no penalty on the play. But that’s hardly the end of the story as both the conference and University of Texas officials condemned the behavior and the SEC levied a $250,000 fine on the Longhorns. That amount is consistent with a conference fine on Tennessee in 2021 for similar fan behavior after former Volunteers coach Lane Kiffin returned to Knoxville while coaching Ole Miss.
“The throwing of debris and resulting interruption of play that took place Saturday night cannot be part of any SEC event,” conference commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement.
Additionally, Texas will be required to identify individuals, where possible, who threw debris and ban them from university athletic events for the remainder of the 2024-2025 academic year. The Longhorns also must review their game management procedures and alcohol policies.
Prior to these sanctions, Georgia coach Kirby Smart went further, suggesting fans are now emboldened in a new way to protest game officials’ decisions.
“I will say now we have a precedent that if you throw a bunch of stuff on the field and endanger athletes, you’ve got a chance to get your call reversed,” he said after the game.
The conduct and the loss bring an unfortunate turn to Texas’s season in which it achieved its first No. 1 ranking since 2008, coinciding with the university’s first campaign in the SEC.
“While we deeply appreciate the passion and loyalty of our fan base at the University of Texas at Austin, we do not condone the unsportsmanlike conduct that was exhibited by some fans,” said several school officials, including president Jay Hartzell and athletic director Chris Del Conte, in a statement.
Race Matters
Formula One’s U.S. Grand Prix Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas, conversely, was a much calmer affair, with Charles Leclerc claiming the race. Fellow Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz finished second. Lando Norris originally finished third, but was assessed a five-second penalty for forcing Max Verstappen off the track, allowing the current F1 leader for 2024 to instead claim the spot for the race.
Final attendance numbers for the three-day race weekend have yet to be released. But strong crowds were seen throughout, and the total is likely to at least challenge last year’s 432,000, if not surpass it. In addition to the motorsports action itself, race festival events included headlining concerts by Sting and Eminem.
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