AUSTIN, Texas -- Georgia coach Kirby Smart was waiting for a complete performance from his team.
On Saturday night, the No. 5 Bulldogs beat No. 1 Texas 30-15 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
"Nobody gave us a chance," Smart told ESPN. "Their own network doubted us. And then they tried to rob us with calls in that place. These guys are so resilient."
Three weeks after Georgia fell behind by four touchdowns in the first half of a 41-34 loss at Alabama, the Bulldogs turned the tables and took a 23-0 halftime lead against the Longhorns.
Georgia's defense sacked the Texas quarterback seven times and had 10 tackles for loss. The Longhorns gained 259 yards of offense, 29 of which came from rushing. Texas made 2 of 15 on third down and 1 of 5 on fourth down.
Georgia, playing at Texas for the first time since 1958, handed the Longhorns their first loss of the season. Texas was the last undefeated team left in the SEC. According to ESPN Research, it's the first time since 2007 that all SEC teams have lost before the end of October.
Georgia's 15-point victory was the third-largest road victory against an AP No. 1 team ever and the most since Notre Dame's 31-16 win over Pittsburgh in 1982.
In a city that prides itself on keeping things weird, a crazy sequence of events nearly helped the Longhorns get back in the game.
With Texas trailing 23-8 with three minutes left in the third quarter, Bulldogs quarterback Carson Beck threw a pass to wide receiver Arian Smith on third-and-10 from the Georgia 31-yard line on the left sideline. Longhorns safety Jahdae Barron got in front of Smith and intercepted the pass, returning it 36 yards to the Georgia 9.
Then things got weird.
Officials initially penalized Barron for pass interference and gave the ball back to the Bulldogs. Referee Matt Loeffler announced the decision in front of the crowd and returned the 15-yard penalty.
Texas fans booed the call as they watched replays on the stadium's jumbotron. Some threw debris into the north end zone, halting play for a few minutes. While staff and security cleaned up the bottles, officials conferred again and reversed the decision.
When Loeffler told Smart on the sideline about the reversal, the Georgia coach said, "You can't do that! You can't do that! ... That's nonsense!"
"Now we've set a precedent: If you throw a bunch of stuff on the field and put athletes at risk, you have a chance of having your call reversed," Smart said. "And that's unfortunate because I think that's dangerous. That's not what we want, and that's not a criticism of the referees. That's what happened."
Smart said Loeffler expressed to him that the penalty was called against the wrong player - it should have been offensive pass interference against Smith.
"It took him a long time to understand that," Smart said.
In a statement released early Sunday morning, the SEC said officials "gathered to discuss the play, which is allowed, to make sure the correct penalty was called."
At that point, the league said, "the referee reported that he was wrong and a foul for defensive pass interference should not have been called. As a result, Texas was awarded the ball at [Georgia's] 9-yard line.
"Even though the initial assessment and evaluation of the penalty was not conducted correctly, it is unacceptable for debris to be thrown onto the field at any time," the SEC said.
The league said it will review fan conduct in connection with its sportsmanship policies and procedures.
"I understand the frustration," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. "We were all frustrated in the moment, but all of us, Longhorn Nation, I know we can do better than that.
Sarkisian said officials did not explain to him why the decision was reversed.
Barron told reporters that the delay in cleaning up the bottles on the field "most likely" contributed to officials changing the decision.
"It was crazy," Barron said. "I thought it was a bad call, so it was good that it was changed."
Despite Smart's protest, Texas took control of the game at the Bulldogs' 9. After a first-down sack, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers threw a 17-yard touchdown to Jaydon Blue over the middle. The point-after kick made it 23-15. Suddenly the Longhorns had life in them after doing little in the first half.
But Georgia's offense answered with a long touchdown run of its own. A 43-yard pass to tight end Oscar Delp brought the Bulldogs to the Texas 25-yard line. On first-and-goal, Beck ran for 5 yards to the 1. After two stops by the Longhorns, Georgia tailback Trevor Etienne ran into the end zone on fourth-and-goal to extend the lead to 30-15 with 12:04 left.
Etienne rushed for 87 yards on 19 carries and scored three touchdowns.
Trailing 23-0, Texas finally scored after recovering a Georgia onside kick attempt early in the second half. Ewers, who was benched at the end of the half, began the third quarter. After a pass interference penalty on Bulldogs safety KJ Bolden in the end zone, Ewers threw a 2-yard touchdown and the subsequent 2-point pass to Isaiah Bond to cut Georgia's lead to 23-8.
Beck threw two interceptions early on, the second on a tipped pass to Barron at the Texas 5-yard line with 3:34 left in the first quarter.
The Georgia defense, however, gave the Longhorns little to play after allowing two first downs on Texas' first possession.
After Beck's second interception, Georgia cornerback Daylen Everette charged off Ewers' blind side on third-and-6 from the Texas 27-yard line. Everette's tackle caused Ewers to fumble and Everette recovered the ball at the 13-yard line.
Four plays later, Etienne scored a 2-yard touchdown on a throw to the left for a 7-0 lead with six seconds left in the first quarter.
The Texas offense suffered three-and-outs on each of its next three attempts.
On third-and-7 from the Longhorns' 11-yard line, Bulldogs linebacker Jalon Walker threw Ewers for a 9-yard sack. After the ensuing punt, Georgia took control at the Texas 28-yard line and Peyton Woodring kicked a 33-yard field goal with 10:46 left in the first half for a 10-0 lead.
But things were about to get worse for the Longhorns. On the next series, Everette intercepted Ewers' pass to wideout Matthew Golden at the Texas 34-yard line, setting up Etienne's 15-yard touchdown run up the middle that gave the Bulldogs a 17-0 lead with 8:30 left before halftime.
Georgia increased the lead to 20-0 with a 48-yard field goal with 4:43 left.
Sarkisian benched Ewers and replaced him with redshirt freshman Arch Manning on the next possession.
Ewers was 6-for-12 passing for 17 yards and an interception in the first half. He was sacked three times and lost a fumble. When Manning entered the game, the Longhorns had gained just 15 yards on 23 plays.
Manning, the nephew of former NFL quarterbacks Eli and Peyton Manning, didn't do much better. On the first drive, Texas had to punt, and on the second drive, Manning was sacked by linebacker Damon Wilson II and fumbled. Walker recovered the ball at the Texas 30-yard line.
Woodring made a 44-yard field goal on the final play of the half to give Georgia a 23-0 lead.
Walker, a junior from Salisbury, North Carolina, had seven tackles and three sacks in the first half. He is the first player to do that in a game against a No. 1-ranked team in the AP in the last 20 years, according to ESPN Research.
Smart earned his 100th win in 117 games as coach of his alma mater, making him the fifth-fastest coach to reach 100 wins behind Notre Dame's Knute Rockne and Chris Petersen, who did it at Boise State and Washington.
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