AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The University of Texas investigation into the bottle-throwing incident that disrupted the Texas-Georgia recreation in October — and drew a harsh rebuke and tremendous from the Southeastern Conference — resulted in nobody being caught or punished.
In a report back to the league despatched final month, Texas officers mentioned a video assessment didn’t determine any of the culprits.
Texas and Georgia meet once more Saturday within the SEC championship recreation in Atlanta. Their first assembly in Austin, a 30-15 Georgia win, produced one of the crucial chaotic and controversial scenes of the faculty soccer season. Longhorns followers upset a few go interference penalty pelted the sphere with particles and briefly stopped the sport, giving the officers time to huddle and reverse the decision.
The incident drew a $250,000 tremendous from the SEC, which additionally threatened to ban alcohol gross sales at future video games. The SEC ordered the varsity to seek out these accountable and ban them from all athletic occasions the remainder of the varsity 12 months.
In a Nov. 7 report back to SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte mentioned the varsity “reviewed all accessible video and different sources of knowledge” to attempt to discover the disruptive followers.
“Despite our greatest effort, we now have not been capable of determine the people at situation. We will take motion if new figuring out data involves mild,” Del Conte wrote.
The faculty’s report was supplied to The Associated Press this week. A college spokesman mentioned he was unaware of any new data or punishments because it was despatched to the SEC. Del Conte didn’t reply to a textual content message searching for remark.
Del Conte informed the SEC that Texas has added extra safety cameras and personnel to observe the coed part, up to date its sportsmanship and fan code of conduct insurance policies, and created digital messaging to encourage good habits.
“Respect, sportsmanship and equity are values that drive us,” Del Conte wrote. “We count on followers to uphold these requirements as nicely.”
The SEC didn’t instantly reply to emailed requests for remark.
The Scene
Then-No. 1 Texas trailed No. 5 Georgia 23-7 when a go interference name negated a Longhorns interception. Angry followers in or close to the coed part lobbed bottles and particles on the sphere and the sport was halted for a number of minutes.
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, who at first was indignant concerning the penalty, crossed the sphere to plead with the followers to cease throwing issues whereas stadium crews cleaned up the mess.
The break gave the sport officers time to rethink and reverse the penalty, a call that infuriated Georgia coach Kirby Smart. Texas then minimize the Georgia result in 23-15, earlier than the Bulldogs later put collectively the game-clinching drive.
“I’ll say that now we’ve set a precedent that should you throw a bunch of stuff on the sphere and endanger athletes that you just’ve bought an opportunity to get your name reversed,” Smart mentioned after the sport “That’s unlucky as a result of to me that’s harmful.”
The Response
Texas officers have been embarrassed and the SEC was indignant.
The league issued a press release that reversing the penalty was the appropriate determination, however condemned the bottle throwing. Critics questioned if related scenes may occur once more within the SEC or elsewhere, sarcastically noting the Texas slogan, “What begins right here modifications the world.”
The SEC ordered Texas to research utilizing “all accessible assets, together with safety, stadium and tv video, to determine people who threw objects onto the taking part in area or on the opposing crew.” It informed the varsity to report its findings to the league.
Texas President Jay Hartzell warned college students the probe was coming. He mentioned the incident had “embarrassed Longhorn Nation,” and agreed with the SEC’s calls for to seek out these accountable.
“Those concerned can have ramifications for his or her actions,” Del Conte wrote in an Oct. 22 message to college students.
The Investigation
The Texas soccer stadium has lengthy had an emergency operations room the place employees monitor stay feeds from safety cameras. In 2009, Texas invited the AP into the room the place a reporter noticed employees watching feeds from 43 cameras. They may see if followers have been consuming alcohol (which was prohibited on the time) or disruptive, or be aware of unattended baggage.
Fifteen years later, the report back to the SEC mentioned Texas couldn’t determine anybody answerable for throwing particles.
The 10-page report features a assessment of stadium insurance policies and the administration’s statements to college students. It contains solely a single paragraph concerning the investigation efforts, which have been led by Derek Trabon, director of the campus Office of Emergency Management. The probe included assist from recreation operations employees and campus police.
The report affords no investigation particulars, equivalent to how a lot video was reviewed, whether or not cameras truly caught followers throwing issues, or if the varsity thought of utilizing facial recognition expertise. The temporary point out of the investigation doesn’t clarify why it was inconclusive.
“We take full accountability for the actions of our followers and reiterate our apology to the University of Georgia and the SEC,” Del Conte wrote.
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