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Dr. Pepper Challenge draws boos after intense matchup called short and winner determined by tiebreaker
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
The Dr. Pepper Halftime Challenge has been a tradition throughout college football each year through championship weekend.
On Saturday, during the SEC Championship, things took a bit of an unusual turn.
Kayla Gibson, from the University of St. Augustine, and Reagan Whitaker, from Baylor University, were each hoping to win $100,000 toward their tuition. And, after the 30 seconds were up, the 2 competitors were tied.
That meant another 15 seconds were put on the clock, with the contestant in the lead in the end winning 100 grand. Only, that ended up in a tie as well, but due to a tiebreaker that was decided on Friday (instead of another round), Reagan Whitaker was declared the winner.
Even in the Dr. Pepper toss challenge the overtime rules suck
— PFF College (@PFF_College) December 3, 2022
That announcement from CBS’s Jenny Dell was met by loud boos from the Mercedes-Benz Stadium crowd. Granted, you can see Dr. Pepper’s reasoning since there was a limited window during the halftime break. Still, it was quite a letdown, especially with the tiebreaker being determined a day ago.
Never seen a Dr Pepper Halftime Challenge winner booed but first time for everything I guess
— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) December 3, 2022
Imagine you win the Dr. Pepper halftime challenge and they boo. I’d crumble to the turf.
— Ippei Strong (@jordan_strong14) December 3, 2022
Dr Pepper halftime challenge more exciting than the game. Still think that should have went to double OT
— Matt Miller (@MattyMillz85) December 3, 2022
The @drpepper halftime challenge between those two ladies was much more entertaining than the Championship game.
— Chad Anderson (@VOL_Chad) December 3, 2022
@drpepper That halftime challenge is flawed. If there is 100K to give to the WINNER and both girls tied twice, they should’ve split the winnings. Neither should receive less because of a challenge a day before that had nothing to do with the actual competition
— karter (@legend_myth) December 3, 2022
I have 3 alternative ideas to keep the Dr. Pepper Halftime Challenge going.
1. Put another 15 seconds on the clock.
2. Give them a limited number of balls… whoever makes most wins.
3. Make them throw a normal pass in the next round.Doing a tiebreaker the day before is dumb.
— Layne Saliba (@laynesaliba) December 3, 2022
@drpepper the young lady that lost the halftime Dr Pepper challenge in the SEC Championship game was robbed! Need a better understanding of these overtime ?rules?. @UGAAthletics
— Shaun (@ShaunPBGA) December 3, 2022
That was the wildest SEC Championship @drpepper Halftime Challenge I’ve ever watched.
Those tiebreaker rules are awful though.
— Rusty Bill (@Rusty_Bill) December 3, 2022
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
