'Bad call' in Georgia-Texas game set bad precedent as refs cave to angry fans

Clarity came to the officials in Austin, Texas, amid a deluge of debris, while replays of a controversial penalty showed on the stadium's big screen.

Referees conferred and reversed a controversial pass interference call in the second half of Saturday’s Georgia-Texas game. That’s allowed. That they changed their mind about the penalty after fans interrupted the game by trashing the field, though, came as a unique and shocking twist.

It gave the appearance that the refs caved to unruly fans.

I find it highly improbable that the weekend’s most controversial call would have been reversed if not for how Texas fans reacted to the initial penalty.

Afterward, Texas defensive back Jahdae Barron said what most of us were thinking: Longhorns fans’ outrage influenced officials to reverse the call.

“Yeah, probably,” Barron said, when asked whether he thought the crowd’s response influenced the call reversal. “Most likely.”

Jeers turned to cheers.

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What happened on controversial penalty in Georgia vs. Texas game?

Here’s how it all went down: Barron intercepted a Carson Beck pass in the third quarter and returned his prize to the Georgia 9-yard line. But wait, a flag rested on the field.

Three officials huddled to discuss the penalty for about 20 seconds, before head referee Matt Loeffler announced the call: Defensive pass interference on Barron. No interception. First down, Georgia.

Texas fans howled.

Contact occurred between Georgia receiver Arian Smith and Barron, but the replay appeared to show Smith initiated the contact.

When the stadium’s video board showed the replay, fans became more inflamed. They littered the field with debris, with most of the objects thrown from the student section.

Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian raced across the field and pleaded with fans to stop throwing objects, while Texas cheerleaders helped clear the debris. The objects stopped flying, and fans redirected to chanting a profanity that rhymes with bull-spit.

The replay showed in the stadium multiple times.

Did the officials take a peek? You won’t convince me none of them stole a glance.

In any case, while the game paused amid the fracas, the officiating crew reconvened, before Loeffler announced a stunning reversal: No pass interference. No penalty. First down, Texas.

Two plays later, the Longhorns celebrated in the end zone, and Georgia’s lead reduced to 23-15.

Pass interference call change sets bad precedent, laments Georgia's Kirby Smart

Did the crowd reaction and game delay cause the refs to change course? There's no way of saying for certain, but my thoughts mirror Barron's: Most likely.

Officials already had stepped off the penalty yardage before the game paused while fans rendered the field unplayable for a few minutes. If not for the crowd’s field-littering, would the officials have halted the game and reconvened to reconsider the penalty, before Georgia snapped its next play? I doubt it.

So, did officials get this right?

In a way, yes, and also not at all.

The way I and other press-row observers saw it, Barron should not have been flagged for pass interference, because the contact between Barron and Smith did not appear to amount to a defensive penalty.

Officials are allowed to gather and discuss a flag such as this before reaching a decision. However, pass interference is nonreviewable, meaning that this judgment call cannot be reversed due to replay.

So, although the refs might have gotten the call right in the end, how they arrived at their decision is highly unusual at best, and awfully fishy at worst.

Three officials gathered to discuss the flag before the penalty was first announced. Why wasn’t the flag waved off then? What changed between that initial conference and the second?

Here’s what changed: Fans halted the game with their outrage, the replay showed multiple times in the stadium, and officials reversed the call.

Maybe, an official just happened to have an epiphany amid a rainfall of water bottles. Sure, that’s possible. But, would that epiphany have arrived in timely fashion, had the game not been halted for three minutes, during which time the replay played on repeat for any wandering eyes to see?

Consider Georgia coach Kirby Smart among the highly skeptical.

“Now we have a precedent,” Smart lamented, “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.”

Ravenous fans from Knoxville to Oxford lick their chops.

When the home crowd doesn’t like a ticky-tack call, bombs away! Meanwhile, show that replay on a loop in the stadium until the refs come to their senses!

How SEC punished Texas for fan behavior

The SEC ordered Texas to try to sleuth out the bottle-throwers and ban those fans from attending games for the rest of the athletic season. I’m sure that’ll be a crack investigation that would do Barney Fife proud.

The SEC also fined Texas $250,000. Big whoop. Flushing cash is a time-honored ritual of college athletics departments. If the call reversal had influenced the outcome of the game – it didn’t, Georgia won 30-15 – the Longhorns would’ve considered that money well spent.

Barron said he thought officials got the penalty wrong from the onset and that “it was crazy” he was flagged.

“I thought it was a bad call,” Barron said, “so it was good they changed it.”

Good that officials corrected the call, yes, but awful in the way they arrived at their decision.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Georgia-Texas referees made ball call by caving to angry fans