SEC pounds Vanderbilt with big fine after Dores fans stormed field

Vanderbilt football fans were overcome with emotion after Saturday's historic win over Alabama, but that won't stop the SEC from enforcing its rules.

Vanderbilt took down Alabama in an upset for the ages, but the SEC doesn't want fans storming the field for any reason. / Butch Dill-Imagn Images

Vanderbilt pulled off one of the biggest upsets in college football history after taking down No. 1 Alabama, but the SEC wasn’t happy with the way fans celebrated the big win.

The Southeastern Conference has levied a significant fine against Vanderbilt University after its football fans stormed the field after the team’s big upset against the Crimson Tide.

Vandy will be forced to pay up to the tune of $100,000 over the incident, an amount that is in line with the conference’s policy against fans occupying a playing surface.

A school’s first offense is $100,000 and from there, a second offense is $250,000 and a third swells to $500,000 for the offending school.

While it may seem like a bummer for fans, the SEC’s reason for implementing the policy is related to safety reasons.

The conference fears that once fans run onto the football field or basketball court that any interactions between them and athletes could result in confrontations and unwanted injuries.

Fans can also be injured in the process of running down from various points in the stadium or arena down towards the playing surface.

Still, that wasn’t going to keep Vanderbilt fans from celebrating one of the biggest upsets in college football history.

And it didn’t stop them from tearing down one of the goalposts from the field and walking with it down Broadway in Nashville, a distance of more than 2 miles, before throwing it in the Cumberland River in a celebration Vandy fans will never forget.

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