Georgia-Texas controversy: Is it more important to make a call correctly or follow procedure?

So what is more important:

Do the referees understand the right call?

… or …

Does the referee not deviate from the established procedure to overturn a decision, particularly if doing so could reward bad fan behavior and thus create an incentive for future bad fan behavior?

What we do know is that Georgia beat Texas 30-15 in Austin on Saturday, but the postgame debate went well beyond each team’s College Football Playoff chances (though there’s an angle to that here).

The situation begins with 3:12 remaining in the third quarter, Georgia leading 23-8, but suddenly the Longhorns have momentum.

At that point, Texas defensive back Jahdae Barron intercepted a pass from Georgia quarterback Carson Beck. Barron returned the ball 36 yards to the Bulldogs’ 9-yard line.

However, the referees threw a flag on the play and cited Barron for pass interference before the interception. UT fans vehemently disagreed, especially when replays on the video board showed that every contact appeared to have been initiated by Georgia receiver Arian Smith.

In particular, the Texas student section began throwing trash and bottles onto the field, causing a significant delay while Texas coaches and officials called for calm and then cleaned up the mess.

During this period – caused by out-of-control fans – the referees huddled together and decided to raise the flag, perhaps influenced by replays shown on the video board or pleas from Texas coaches that the decision was wrong.

It would finally be Texas Ball. Two plays later, the Longhorns scored, cutting the lead to 23-15.

Now it was Georgia coaches and university officials seething over it, arguing that a bunch of bottle-throwing fans shouldn’t be able to create the delay that led to the conversation that led to the reversal.

“What I cannot accept is the manner in which this specific call was reversed,” Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks said. “The officer claimed he made a mistake when he called. My question is, when did he notice the mistake? If it was before the delay caused by fans throwing objects onto the pitch, what stopped him before the head official made the call and spotted the ball?”

The SEC did not answer Brooks’ question in a statement, saying only that the arbitrators got together and reversed the decision. However, the delay seemed to help. The conference fined Texas $250,000 for the incident. Texas also issued a formal apology and said it would ban fans it could identify as culprits from future track and field events.

There is a lot to clarify here and perhaps not as much consensus as one would expect.

Start with the fact that the officers ultimately understood the call correctly. Shouldn’t that be the goal? Is there a deadline for the consultation? Or does the end not justify the means – i.e. dangerous fan behavior?

“Now we’ve set a precedent: If you throw a lot of stuff on the field and endanger athletes, there’s a chance the decision will be reversed,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said.

Smart is right. But is that the referee’s job? Should potential fan behavior, let alone potential fan behavior in future games, impact their efforts to get the job done as best they can?

Shouldn’t that be the responsibility of the schools themselves? You are responsible for security. Do we want the referees to think about anything other than the correct decision or rule interpretation? The job seems hard enough.

As far as stopping things like that goes, a fine from the conference probably means nothing – Texas is rich as hell and it’s not like the individual fans are paying for it (unless Texas wanted to try to sue some of them). Banning offenders is a good start and could be a cause for concern in the future – everything in stadiums is on camera these days.

In fact, filing criminal charges would be out of the question – throwing a bottle over (or into) a crowd would seemingly violate a law. This has also been done at other venues.

Interestingly, this call is the best thing that could have happened to Georgia (and the worst thing that could have happened to Texas). Was turned around.

Texas gained possession and scored, but Georgia fought off the ball and still won convincingly. Had the referee error stood, Texas would have screamed that the game was stolen by the referees.

In the past this may not have mattered. A win is a win. But in the age of the 12-team college football playoffs, in which the subjective decisions of the selection committee can determine not only who gets in, but also where they are seeded and therefore whether they have to host a playoff or play on the road, it would be conceivable a “controversial” win/defeat.

For Georgia, there is no discernible asterisk on their triumph. And for Texas, there is no “yes, but” counterargument.

So the original decision for Texas didn’t work out, then they sulked and misbehaved, and that bought enough time for it to work out, but in the end it didn’t work out and they still lost without being able to do anything good Excuse me.

And the original call worked for Georgia, then it didn’t, but eventually it did, and yet they still protest, albeit in a far more appropriate way than the Texas Student Division.

Meanwhile, no one is sure whether they should be allowed to do it right because of a mistake or not.

Fines. Testify. Fury. Banishments. Arguments.

Just another Saturday night of college football.