It's spreading: Ohio State fans followed Texas' lead by flinging bottles onto the field after controversial call

Texas Longhorns fans achieved new innovations in audience disruption during last Saturday's loss to Georgia, seemingly convincing the SEC officiating crew to overturn an (admittedly bogus) pass interference call through the refined art of hurling bottles onto the field at DKR. Afterward, everyone from Matthew McConaughey to Kirby Smart seemed to draw the same lesson from the fiasco: Passion is all well and good in college football, but throwing stuff onto the field clearly crosses a line, and fans around the country needed to know that this sort of behavior wasn't acceptable.

Ohio State fans, however, had a very different takeaway: We should try this for ourselves. And it didn't take long for the Buckeye faithful to get their chance.

Ohio State fans throw bottles onto field after targeting call vs. Nebraska

Angst levels were already high inside Ohio Stadium in the fourth quarter of the Buckeyes' game against Nebraska on Saturday afternoon. With an extra week to stew over the one-point loss to Oregon, both the team and its fans expected a get-right romp over a Huskers team that just got steamrolled by Indiana. But Matt Rhule's team had other ideas, taking a 17-14 lead early in the fourth quarter — and threatening to touch off an existential crisis in Central Ohio.

A Will Howard TD pass put Ohio State back in front, 21-17, and gave the ball back to Nebraska for one last game-winning drive. On the first play of that drive, linebacker Arvell Reese appeared to have broken up a Dylan Raiola pass attempt ... only to be whistled for a targeting call that the crowd very much did not agree with. The call was upheld upon review, at which point fans lost it, flinging everything from water bottles to shooters of Fireball to even, uh, cheese onto the field.

Cheerleaders near the student section were forced to take cover.

Not even reporters themselves were safe.

Once the furor died down enough for play to resume, Ohio State's defense slammed the door and helped the Buckeyes escape with a crucial win. But that's hardly going to be the headline from this game now.

If we're being honest, it was a questionable targeting call: Reese didn't launch himself, and it was debatable as to whether the contact was to the head/neck area of the Nebraska receiver. But that is so, so far beside the point: The way that both Ryan Day and the fans at the Horseshoe conducted themselves was beyond the pale, and suggests that we may have a bit of a bottle-chucking epidemic on our hands in college football. Fans need to remember that this is, in fact, just a game, and that nothing is worth putting bystanders in harm's way just because you're frustrated with human officials doing their best with a tough job.