The trickle of fans over the low walls of Neyland Stadium began slowly Saturday night. Yes, Tennessee had defeated its hated enemy Alabama, cigarette smoke rose and “Rocky Top” filled the air. It was a cause for celebration, of course, but an assault on the field? The uncertainty among the crowd was palpable. Didn’t we do this two years ago? Should we…?
And then the mob mentality took over and all reason flew into the Knoxville sky. The Vol faithful invaded the field, knocking down goal posts (again) and tearing up checkerboard-shaped patches of grass (again). The powers that be in Tennessee were not happy; the turf had just been laid a couple of weeks ago after a Morgan Wallen concert, and police wouldn’t allow any of the poles to leave the stadium this year for a tour of Knoxville and a dunk in the river. The old-school Vols quietly complained that this was nonsense; Beating Alabama after a 15-year losing streak is one thing, but storming onto a field after beating them for the second time in three years is embarrassing.
For the second time this season — and the second time in Tennessee, by the way — Alabama players had to fight their way through a tide (sorry, Bama) of fans storming the field. (At least this time, although they probably would have loved to release some frustration somehow.)
Vanderbilt and Tennessee followed the sweeping path of LSU in 2022, Texas A&M in 2021, Ole Miss in 2014 and Auburn on three separate recent occasions — moments when the euphoria of taking down big, bad Alabama culminated in a glorious community stomp. in the grass where it happened. It’s an understandable impulse, particularly in the cases of Vandy, Tennessee in 2022 or Auburn in 2013, the year of Kick Six. Sometimes you can’t just celebrate in your seat, you have to jump up and go crazy on the grass.
The reason these types of attacks occur against Alabama and not, say, Kentucky is obvious. Alabama has spent a decade and a half as the Evil Empire, the ultimate boss, the standard bearer of excellence in college football. A win is a win, but a win over Alabama is a statement.
As Bama247’s Mike Rodak noted Saturday night, every program that has beaten Alabama at home has stormed the field, dating back to LSU in 2010:
Half-effort assault on the field by Tennessee after beating Alabama. An opponent has yet to take the field after beating Alabama at home since LSU in 2010. pic.twitter.com/hSfpqcDu0P
—Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) October 19, 2024
All those assaults on the field have come at a cost, and not just in the replacement of the grass and goal posts. The SEC fines schools that trespass on the field or court, and the fines get higher every year. TO shows that Auburn has been fined three times for a total of $505,000, LSU once for $250,000, Ole Miss once for $50,000, Tennessee twice for $200,000, Texas A&M once for $100,000 and Vanderbilt once for $100,000. In other words, Alabama’s losses have resulted in total fines of more than $1.2 million.
Alabama is one of three SEC legacy schools, along with Mississippi State and Georgia, that have never paid conference fines for storming the field. (Texas and Oklahoma have not done so either, but simply joined the conference.) Mississippi State: Well, I’m sorry, but you have to have a declared victory to justify storming the field. Georgia and Alabama tend to think themselves above such displays of pedestrian emotion.
Alabama fans smell that they have never stormed into Bryant-Denny Stadium after a victory. (That may or may not be true, but they definitely stormed Legion Field in Birmingham when the Tide played there.) After a loss, Alabama fans tend to find solace in history and memes, like a riff on the street fighter There’s a line about how an opponent should celebrate when they beat Alabama, but when Alabama beats that opponent, it’s just another Saturday.
The thing is, in Alabama, these celebrations are starting to get uncomfortably close to each other. The last time Alabama was 5-2 after seven weeks of the season was in 2007, the first year of Nick Saban’s reign. The Tide finished that season with a 7-6 record on the field (four of those wins were later vacated), but on a four-game losing streak.
This Alabama team, which is currently a sloppy, undisciplined, inexact mess, is just a couple plays away from a four-game losing streak. And with five games left in the season, there are still some ugly marks on the table. Alabama hasn’t lost three games in a season since 2010, and those three losses, including the infamous 28-27 Iron Bowl comeback engineered by Cam Newton, were against top-20 teams.
Still ahead: a home battle this weekend against No. 21 Missouri, and then road games against No. 8 LSU and Oklahoma. Sooner, fans could invade the field if they win; There’s not much to celebrate in Norman these days. But if LSU stays in the top 10 and then wins on Nov. 9, that’s when it gets really interesting to see if they’ll break into the field.
Because as bad as it is for the Crimson Tide to see fans storm the field around them, it’s much worse if they stay in the stands, celebrating a victory over Alabama as if it were just another victory.