Academy Award-winning actor and Texas Longhorns fan Matthew McConaughey posted a message Monday on his social media accounts scolding fans who tossed bottles on the field during the team’s loss to Georgia. The university was fined $250,000 and Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian called for fans to “be better” after the incident, which halted play for approximately five minutes.
McConaughey, who thanked fans for making a raucous environment for the Bulldogs before going into his real point, makes routine appearances at games in Austin and was on the sideline for the embarrassing prime-time display.
“Let’s get real about the bottle bombing the field glitch we had,” McConaughey wrote, in part. “Not cool. Bogey move. Yeah, that call was BS, but we’re better than that. Longhorn Nation knows how to show up, show out like no other, and still keep our class. So, going forward let’s clean that kind of BS up and leave that behind us for good. We have to hake hands on that.”
Fans threw bottles and other debris onto the field when a pass interference penalty against Texas defensive back Jahdae Barron negated an interception. The Longhorns trailed, 23-8, midway through the third quarter when officials called off the potential momentum-swinging play. During the delay, the officials huddled and discussed the penalty and ultimately overturned the call, handing the ball to the Longhorns.
“The throwing of debris and resulting interruption of play that took place Saturday night cannot be part of any SEC event,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said in a release. “The SEC is assigned responsibility by its membership to enforce its sportsmanship and game management policies and these actions are consistent with that oversight responsibility, including the financial penalty and mandated reviews.”
The SEC’s sportsmanship, game management and alcohol availability policies outline multiple penalties and requirements for the university, beginning with a $250,000 penalty. Texas must also use all available resources to identify the individuals who threw debris on the field and prohibit the guilty parties from attending further Longhorns athletics events for the remainder of the 2024-25 academic year.
The conference requires Texas to review and update its game management procedures and alcohol availability policies to prevent another instance of Saturday’s disruption. Texas must then provide a report to the SEC, summarizing its efforts to fulfill each of the aforementioned requirements.
SEC policy states that the conference may suspend Texas’ alcohol sales, but it elected not to do so at this time.
“I asked the official what he saw to warrant DPI,” Sarkisian said after the game. “At that moment, the trash came on the field. I understand the frustration. We were all frustrated in the moment. All of us in Longhorn Nation, we can be better than that. We were able to get that stop and get that taken care of and regroup. Then they overturned that call. It gave us the opportunity to get a short field, punch one in and make it a one-score game.”
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The Longhorns’ next home game comes against Florida on Nov. 9.
Carter Bahns contributed to this report.
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