AUSTIN — It didn’t take long for Texas football to make a national impression as members of the SEC on Saturday night.

It was’t a good one, and it had nothing to do with Georgia upsetting the Longhorns by a 30-15 count in front of 105,215 at Texas Memorial Stadium and ABC’s national television audience.

The Longhorns’ fans threw a Texas-sized temper tantrum with three minutes left in the third quarter when a pass interference call went against them.

The Texas fans showered the field with trash and water bottles, at least one hitting a camera man, halting the game for some five minutes while chanting obscenities.

It was an embarrassing, unnecessary and unusual display not often seen at marquee events, much less an undecided game where the home team has momentum.

As it turned out, the Longhorns would benefit from the delay, as the call was reversed giving the Longhorns the ball at the UGA 9 leading to a touchdown.

The Bulldogs would respond in championship fashion, driving 89 yards on 11 plays on the ensuing possession to regain a two-score cushion and the momentum needed to win the game.

But the Texas Tantrum will not soon be forgotten.

After all, Georgia-Texas was the most-watched college football game of the season on TV so far, with 12.9 million viewers.

It was indeed the most-anticipated college football game of the season as soon as the schedule was released last December.

ESPN and other national outlets identified the matchup of bluebloods as one that would be most impactful on the newly expanded 12-team College Football Playoff.

The Bulldogs and Longhorns held up their end of that bargain through the first six weeks of the season as the two highest ranked SEC teams entering the contest with just one loss between them.

The programs were, however, seemingly headed in opposite directions entering the night.

The No. 5-ranked Bulldogs had struggled in wins over Kentucky and Mississippi State, and even with Alabama having a new head coach, were unable to get over the Crimson Tide hump.

It has become a maddening rivalry with the Tide, the only program to have beaten Georgia since the 2021 SEC Championship Game. Kirby Smart is 0-3 against Alabama since the start of the 2021 season — and 48-0 against everyone else.

The Longhorns built momentum in the same timeframe, hiring Steve Sarkisian as head coach entering the 2021 campaign.

Texas went from 5-7 in Sarkisian’s first season to 8-5 in 2022, 12-2 in 2023 (with a 34-24 win over Alabama and CFP appearance) and were 6-0 rolling into the showdown for SEC supremacy against Georgia.

The Longhorns had the look of a program ready to swim with the sharks.

The SEC has welcomed Texas and Oklahoma with open arms, eager to add all of their football tradition — and television value — to the extent of holding the league’s high-profile media day event in Dallas last summer.

The Longhorns also appeared to be assigned a most favorable league schedule, opening with SEC cellar dweller Mississippi State at home, before holding their traditional “Red River Rivalry” game with Oklahoma in conjunction with the Texas State Fair.

Things were working out exactly as Sarkisian and his Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback, Quinn Ewers, had predicted they would.

“We’re going to be everybody’s biggest game, for sure,” Ewers had bragged in the preseason, echoing his coach, who had spoken about how this Texas team was built to win in the SEC.

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Kirby Smart’s inspired Georgia football program threw a wrench into those plans, putting the Longhorns in position to root for rival Texas A&M on Saturday against LSU in a battle of SEC teams who have yet to lose a league game.

A Texas A&M win would help Texas to regain control of its own destiny. The Longhorns won’t get a shot at LSU in the regular season, but they will close the SEC slate on the road in College Station in what might end up being a play-in game to reach the SEC Championship Game.

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First things first, the Longhorns must get control of their fanbase and expectations.

The SEC fined Texas $250,000 for its unruly fan behavior and required the Austin school to use all available resources to identify the fans who threw trash on the field and/or at UGA players and prohibit them from attending future games this year.

Considering the school makes nearly $240 million in total revenue annually -- with a $14 million profit margin, per the latest USA Today data -- the fine seems light.

It’s also hard to sense if the fans realize just how poor of a first impression Texas has made in the league, especially after the head coach issued a quote that seemed to pacify the fans more than scold.

“I understand the frustration,” Sarkisian said in the postgame. “We all were frustrated in the moment. But, you know …. all of Longhorn Nation, I know we can be better than that.”

SEC schools had been warned that, while in the Big 12, Texas became a school accustomed to getting its way.

That certainly appeared to be what happened on the pass interference reversal, as well, as SEC fans, media and league administrators have taken note.