Steve Sarkisian slams officials at halftime of Texas-Georgia SEC championship game

Interviews with college football coaches heading into halftime of games can often be anodyne.

As his Texas team competes for a conference title on Saturday, Steve Sarkisian provided a notable exception.

Despite the No. 2 Longhorns leading No. 5 Georgia 6-3 at halftime of the 2024 SEC championship game Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Sarkisian’s squad spent the opening 30 minutes of the matchup mired in mistakes, finishing the first half with eight penalties for 80 yards.

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When asked by ESPN’s Laura Rutledge about how Texas cleans up that sloppiness, Sarkisian provided a succinct and pointed answer.

“Well, hopefully they call them for a holding one of these times, too,” Sarkisian said, with no further elaboration or comment beyond his brief statement.

In contrast to the Longhorns, Georgia had just two penalties for 19 yards in the first two quarters of action.

The penalty disparity was one of several factors that kept coach Kirby Smart’s team down just three points after being statistically dominated in the first half. Texas outgained the Bulldogs by a 260-54 margin in the opening two quarters. Several of the Longhorns’ penalties negated big plays that could have ultimately led to precious points in a low-scoring game.

Texas entered Saturday’s game No. 62 among 134 FBS teams in penalty yards per game, with 50.3.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Texas' Steve Sarkisian slams officials at halftime of SEC title game