On Saturday night, the Georgia Bulldogs defeated the Texas Longhorns, who were rated first at the time, 30–15 in Austin, Texas. It was, to put it mildly, a wild football game, with a trash-throwing incident that had a significant effect on the game. Texas’s defensive back, Jahdae Barron, returns an interception from Georgia quarterback Carson Beck in the middle of the third quarter, putting Texas behind 23 to 7.
But for what was previously known as defensive pass interference, there was a flag on the field. The game was delayed when the student section of Texas started tossing trash, and hundreds of beer cans and water bottles started to fall from the stands. After discussing the call and viewing numerous in-stadium replays on the board, the referee crew decided to reverse the call, awarding Texas the ball for offensive pass interference.
In the sport, it was an unprecedented time. The potential of a crowd to postpone the game altered a decision. A similar incident happened to Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin a couple years back when he was playing Tennessee and had trash thrown at him. In his remarks this week, he praised Kirby Smart’s handling of the matter and said he wouldn’t have done so as well.