Texas Coach Steve Sarkisian Calls Out Officiating at Halftime of SEC Championship

Sark was not happy.

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian speaks with line judge. / Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

It was an eventful, if low-scoring first half in the SEC championship game between the Texas Longhorns and Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday.

While Georgia took a 6–3 lead into the break, neither side was happy with their performance. The Longhorns were especially disappointed, as they had amassed 260 total yards while holding the Bulldogs to just 54, and still led by only a field goal.

Much of the struggles Texas faced were self-inflicted, with the team getting called for eight penalties for a total of 80 yards in the first half.

Coach Steve Sarkisian was clearly frustrated with the game, and specifically, the officiating, as he led his team the locker room at halftime. Asked about cleaning up the penalties in the second half, Sark fired back. “Well hopefully they call [Georgia] for a holding one of these times, too,” Sarkisian told ESPN’s Laura Rutledge.

Here’s the entire Steve Sarkisian halftime interview pic.twitter.com/xbzfxYCtLk

— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) December 7, 2024

That was it.

It’s not the first time officiating has been an issue between Texas and Georgia. When they met in Texas just two months ago, a controversial penalty was even more controversially reversed after Longhorns fans threw bottles onto the field in protest of the call.

Let’s hope the SEC title game doesn’t reach a similar level.

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