Texas Longhorns Issue Apology to UGA Football for "Unsportsmanlike Conduct" from Some Fans
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AUSTIN - Kirby Smart and UGA Football took out Steve Sarkisian and the No. 1 Texas Longhorns on Saturday. Now Texas officials are apologizing for an ugly event that happened during UGA’s 30-15 win over the Horns.
Sunday Texas officials issued a statement apologizing to UGA Football and its fans for what the Horns called “unsportsmanlike conduct” from “some individuals throwing objects onto the field” during UGA’s 30-15 win over No. 1 Texas Saturday night.
The statement from Texas is as follows:
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 individuals throwing objects onto the field during last night's game and sincerely apologize to the University of Georgia players, coaches and fans, as well as the Southeastern Conference and officiating crew. This type of behavior will not be tolerated.
Respect, sportsmanship, and fairness are the values that drive our program, and we expect all of our fans to uphold these standards. We are committed to fostering a positive environment for all participants, teams, officials and fans, and we will take steps to ensure that this type of behavior does not happen again.
We appreciate the support of Longhorn Nation and are confident that, moving forward, we will continue to represent our university with pride and respect.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support.
UT System Board of Regents Chairman, Kevin Eltife
UT President, Jay Hartzell
UT Vice President and Lois and Folger Athletics Director, Chris Del Conte
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You can read more about the incident on Dawg Post.
During the third quarter, there was a pass interference call against Texas that the home fans did not agree with. In turn, the Longhorn faithful began to throw drinks onto the field. After the commotion officials reversed their call, and gave Texas the ball in the red zone. The Horns scored one of their two touchdowns after the turnover.
Here is a statement from UGA AD Josh Brooks regarding the play that lead to the commotion:
“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.”