Dr. Pepper Caves To Public Pressure And Gives $100K To Pair Of Students At SEC Championship Game

Getty Image


Outside of a hilariously fascinating first quarter, Saturday’s SEC Championship game between No. 1 Georgia and No.14 LSU wasn’t all that compelling. The defending national champion Bulldogs took a commanding 35-7 lead into the halftime break and cruised home from there, taking the 50-30 victory.

But what was compelling was what happened during that halftime. The Dr. Pepper Challenge at halftime of the conference championship games is a highly contentious competition. Not necessarily among competitors, but among those watching.

The event pits two current college students against one another and asks them to toss footballs in a far-too-large Dr. Pepper can. What started out as a fun event was quickly ruined by competitors who realized they can hack the game by chest-passing the footballs, rather than throwing them the way a true American should.

But this year’s competition at the SEC Championship game in Atlanta had an added layer of drama.

The two competitors, Reagan Whitaker of Baylor and Kayla Gibson of the University of St. Augustine, tied with the same amount of made throws.

They then went to a 15-second throw-off, where they once again tied. But rather than another 15-second tiebreaker, which would have been very simple, the $100,000 prize was awarded to Whitaker. The emcee for the event announced that she had won the tiebreaker challenge held the day prior. But they did not clarify what that tiebreaker was.

The crowd, feeling Gibson had been robbed, booed the decision. Apparently, the second tiebreaker was who scored more in their qualifying round.

Still seems a bit ridiculous. Thankfully, Dr. Pepper did the right thing.

Dr. Pepper Bows To The Pressure Of Twitter, Proving That Bully Does Work

Keurig Dr. Pepper reported $12.68 billion in net sales in the 2021 fiscal year. Fans felt that was more than enough to justify giving both competitors the money.

Apparently someone at Dr. Pepper realized the error of their ways. The CBS broadcast announced mid-way through the fourth quarter that the company will award both contestants the $100 thousand prize.

As it should be.