Vanderbilt fans celebrated the team’s surprising victory over No. 1 Alabama by knocking down a goal post and carrying it through the streets of Nashville before throwing it into the Cumberland River.
Sedrick Alexander scored two touchdowns and Diego Pavia edged out Heisman Trophy favorite Jalen Milroe as Vanderbilt stunned Alabama 40-35 on Saturday for its first win over a top-five ranked team in history.
It was the Commodores’ first victory over the top-ranked team in the country. FirstBank Stadium saw wild celebrations among Vanderbilt fans, who stormed the field seconds after he took a final knee.
Notable clips showed fans walking three miles from Vanderbilt football stadium to Broadway, Nashville’s main bar area, with a police escort.
Hundreds of Commodores students cheered as the yellow uprights and goal posts met their final destination underwater.
Vanderbilt students toppled goal post after Commodores defeated No. 1 Alabama
The goal posts were removed from the stadium and throughout the city of Nashville for hours.
Vanderbilt hadn’t beaten Alabama in 40 years, but they snapped a 23-game losing streak the week after the Crimson Tide defeated then-second-ranked Georgia. No one outside of Nashville expected him on Saturday.
Alabama quickly trailed the game 14-0 before the contest was seven minutes old. The Crimson Tide never led the game.
Every Alabama fast break made most think it was a valiant attempt by Vanderbilt to defeat the best team in America, but the Commodores always had an answer.
A touchdown reception by Pavia’s Kamrean Johnson, who was masterful in directing Vanderbilt’s offense throughout the game, was probably the nail in the coffin.
Even Alabama’s most vaunted roster couldn’t compare, with Milroe held back to throw just 24 passes in the game.
After taking the final snapshot, Vanderbilt played a quote from former Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban on the jumbotron from his appearance last month on the Pat McAfee Show.
“The only place in the SEC that’s not hard to play is Vanderbilt,” Saban said.
That message did not age well on his former team.
Vanderbilt had never defeated a top-five team before Saturday’s win over Alabama.
Diego Pavía celebrated the victory that will make him a Vanderbilt football legend forever
Cameras captured the poles walking the streets with a police escort.
Milroe failed to develop a major case of Crimson Tide magic for the second straight week.
The poles ended up in the Cumberland River after walking down the Broadway strip.
Current Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer now has a loss to Vanderbilt on his resume in his fifth game at the helm of the Crimson Tide, one that Tuscaloosa won’t soon forget.
After a crazy day of college football, the loss doesn’t completely diminish Alabama’s chances of winning the Southeastern Conference. However, it makes that path much more difficult.
And that’s all thanks to Vanderbilt, who dropped the anchor in more ways than one.