Georgia AD Josh Brooks issues strong statement on questionable officiating decision
Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks has released a statement regarding the controversial decision to overturn a pass interference call on Saturday night in the Georgia-Texas game.
The call was reversed after Texas fans threw debris onto the field in protest of the original call. The SEC released a statement on Saturday night claiming that the head official reported that he “erred” in making the call.
Brooks wrote on social media that he will be challenging the SEC office on process by which the call was overturned.
Here’s the full statement from Brooks:
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.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart also addressed the decision to overturn the call in his postgame comments. He pointed out the precedent has now been set that fans might be able to get a call overturned by throwing things on the field.
Georgia ultimately won the game 30-15. The Bulldogs will be idle in Week 9 before taking on Florida on Nov. 2.
“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?” Great point by Brooks.
None of the officials did anything to stop the process of spotting the ball. After it was spotted, that is the end of the process, and it doesn’t matter if it was a bad call or not.
It’s the worst referee call since that offside call on the punt block that cost Georgia the 2018 national championship.
Hahahahahaha great game ever! 2nd and 26!!!
Hahahahahaha great game ever! 33-18!!! 2021 National Championships!!!
Too bad you still cannot beat Alabama even without Nick Saban… little brother.
And your senior db cost you the game when a freshman quarterback baited him to move towards the middle and threw to a freshman wr.
Damian Swann was a Richt recruit. He couldn’t qualify to be a backup at Georgia today.
Enjoy the playoffs from home bit ch.
Hahaha looks like I caused Doug to get his little feelings hurt. What’s wrong little brother? What’s Georgia’s record against Alabama the past 10 games? You will always be lower class, always. Now tell us about your fake life again, or are you too chicken to tell us where you actually work?? I bet you won’t.
Enjoy the Sun Bowl.
Injustice doesn’t stop unless someone steps up. Maybe we will see some support from other schools that have had this exact same thing trying to beat the new big money SEC- similar thing went down with Mizzou Tamu.
This new money is way bigger than what we’re used to- I remember the warnings from big 12- keep Texas out of your football. Oops.
Arkansas, TX A&M, and Mizzou all warned our SEC brethren about inviting TX into the SEC. This is Exhibit A. There will be numerous other instances of biased or incompetent officiating benefiting TX. Just wait. You all were warned.
Yes indeed.
Actually, this is example umpting something and the SEC didn’t get it. They just saw the $. There’s a reason all those teams left. I respect every SEC except tu….I even like….a.a.a.a. tolerate OU.
Really? The officiating was bad both ways. Personally not a fan of Texas, or Georgia for that matter. However, the sanctimonious, self-righteous attitude of Georgia is comical. Nobody robbed anybody. The actions of the fans were dangerous and inexcusable.
Someone could have been hurt or injured, and there should be some accountability and punishment. With that said, where has the AD indignation been with the off-field actions of his team’s players?
It’s a little hypocritical.
PI is a non-reviewable penalty. Whether the call was bad or not is irrelevant. The rule is quite clear.
boy, you’re off base. try to stay on topic. his comments followed a very unique, if not possibly an unprecedent event. do you know of another example where a non-reviewable play was reversed in favor of the home team after a lengthy delay caused by a deplorable act by the local fan base?
maybe as the AD was also referencing the off-field driving arrests, as you suggested, he also referenced how embarrassing ole miss is with the constant fake injuries on account that their too out of shape or simply not good enough to keep up with opposing offenses.
Don’t care for our “fake” injuries either, but there were a few phantom injuries in your game last night as well. That’s a problem that really needs to be corrected. Glad you pointed out the “off-field driving arrests” of Georgia players. Good to know someone who supports UGA is at least knowledgeable of current events.
The original call was obviously wrong. but those are made every game. My problem with the call is that it is not reviewable, yet the officials did just that, watching the replay multiple times from multiple angles while the fans threw things on the field and it was cleaned up. They set a precedent of watching the in stadium replays to reverse a call. So is the SEC office going to be good with doing that on every call and for every team? If so these games are going to last 4 1/2 hors each.