Georgia weathering an overturned call to beat No. 1 Texas:

Georgia coach Kirby Smart had been waiting for his team to put together a complete performance.

It finally arrived in the No. 5 Bulldogs’ 30-15 upset of No. 1 Texas at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday night.

“Nobody gave us a chance,” Smart said to ESPN. “Your own network doubted us. And then they tried to rob us with calls in this place. These guys are so resilient.”

Three weeks after Georgia trailed Alabama by four touchdowns at halftime of a 41-34 loss, the Bulldogs flipped the script and took a 23-0 lead into halftime against Texas.

Georgia’s defense sacked the Texas quarterbacks seven times and had 10 tackles for loss. The Longhorns finished with only 259 yards of offense, and 29 were rushing. On third down, Texas went 2-for-14, and on fourth, 1-for-5.

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 down 23-8 with three minutes left in the third quarter, Bulldogs quarterback Carson Beck dumped the pass down the left sideline to wide receiver Arian Smith for third-and-10 from the Georgia 31-yard line. Longhorns safety Jahdae Barron leaped in front of Smith and intercepted the pass. He returned it 36 yards to the Georgia 9

That’s when things got weird:

Officials called pass interference on Barron, giving the Bulldogs the ball back. Referee Matt Loeffler announced the call to the crowd and walked off the 15-yard penalty to the Georgia 44.

The call was booed by the Texas crowd while fans watched replays on the stadium’s jumbotron. Some threw debris into the north end zone, causing the play to be delayed for a few minutes. While bottles were being cleaned up by staff members and security, the officials met again and made the call official.

After Loeffler told Smart about the reversal on the sideline, the Georgia coach turned to him and said, “You can’t do that! You can’t do that!. That’s bulls—!”

“Now, we’ve set a precedent that if you throw a bunch of stuff on the field and endanger athletes that you’ve got a chance to get your call reversed,” Smart said. “And that’s unfortunate because, to me, that’s dangerous. That’s not what we want, and that’s not criticizing officials. That’s what happened.”

Smart said Loeffler told him the call was incorrect because it was offensive pass interference against Smith, not the penalty that occurred.

“It took him a long time to realize that,” Smart said.

In a statement issued early Sunday morning, the SEC said officials “met to discuss the play, which is allowed to ensure the correct penalty is made.”

“Although the original review and determination of the penalty did not occur, it was completely unacceptable to have litter thrown on the playing field at any time,” the SEC said in a statement.

The league said it would review fan conduct related to its sportsmanship policies and procedures.

“I know the frustration,” said Texas coach Steve Sarkisian. “We were all frustrated in the moment, but all of us, the Longhorn Nation, I know we can be better than that.”

Sarkisian said officials didn’t explain to him why the call was reversed.

Barron told reporters that the delay in cleaning up the bottles on the field “most likely” helped in officials changing the call.

“It was crazy,” Barron said. “I thought it was a bad call, so it was good that it changed.”

Texas took over at the Bulldogs’ 9. After a first-down sack, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers launched a 17-yard touchdown to Jaydon Blue over the middle. The point-after kick made it 23-15. Suddenly, the Longhorns had life after doing very little in the first half.

According to the league, “the calling official reported that he erred, and a foul should not have been called for defensive pass interference. Accordingly, Texas was awarded the ball at the [Georgia] 9-yard line.

But the Longhorns did nothing with the ball. Texas’ offense was three-and-out on each of its next three possessions.

On third-and-7 from the 11-yard line, Bulldogs linebacker Jalon Walker dropped Ewers for a 9-yard sack. After returning the ensuing punt, Georgia took over at Texas’ 28-yard line and had Peyton Woodring kick a 33-yard field goal to take a 10-0 lead with 10:46 remaining in the first half.

It wouldn’t get much better for the Longhorns. On the very next series, Everette intercepted Ewers’ pass to wideout Matthew Golden at Texas’ 34-yard line. That set up Etienne’s 15-yard touchdown run up the middle, giving the Bulldogs a 17-0 lead with 8:30 to go in the half.

Georgia made it 20-0 on a 48-yard field goal with 4:43 remaining.

North Carolina, had seven tackles and three sacks in the first half. It’s the first time a player has made sacks in a game against the AP No. 1-ranked team in the last 20 years, according to ESPN Research.

Smart compiled his 100th victory in 117 games as the coach of his alma mater, which ranks fifth fastest to 100 wins with Notre Dame’s Knute Rockne and Chris Petersen, who did it at Boise State and Washington.

Sarkisian benched Ewers and replaced him with redshirt freshman Arch Manning on the next possession.