‘To the river’: Vanderbilt fans describe chaotic celebration and goalpost tour after Alabama upset

It sank. Of course that happened.

It was a goalpost weighing several hundred pounds dumped into the Cumberland Riverbut any of the students marching down Broadway could be forgiven for thinking it could float. That’s because some described something like magic in the air that night.

The goalpost, however, was not as joyful as the raucous Vanderbilt crowd that stormed the field of FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, last Saturday after a football game for the ages. The unranked Commodores closed out a 40-35 victory over then-No. 1 Alabama to mark Vandy’s first-ever victory over an Associated Press top-five team. Understandably, chaos ensued.

“It was basically chaos,” said Dean Parentis, a senior at Vanderbilt who attended the game.

Another senior Vanderbilt student in the crowd, Robbie Tylman, called the postgame atmosphere “insanity.”

Parentis and Tylman were among the swarm of fans on the field when the game ended — a stunt that prompted the SEC to fine the school $100,000. They were also among about 50 people, by Tylman’s estimate, who helped carry the goalpost off the field at FirstBank during a 2.5-mile trek to the river after a handful of fans tore it down.

“You had students going up to players to pat them down and give them high-fives,” Parentis said of the on-field celebrations. “You were in a hurry in the middle of the field to see the coach and take pictures. Then everyone slowly started to fan out towards the goal post on the other side.”

Almost instinctively, the crowd moved toward that set of uprights, shook it down, and carried it toward Broadway and the river beyond as police tried to control the crowds and traffic in the bustling downtown area. Tylman, who said he kept his hand on the post for about half the trip and ran next to it in a “sea of ​​a thousand people,” immediately knew its destination. Parentis, who said he helped carry the goalpost out of the stadium and into the street, heard chants in the tunnel: “To the river!”

For about an hour, the group marched and cheered as they maneuvered the 30-foot-high and about 20-foot-wide pole that weighs hundreds of pounds over and around stopped cars as drivers high-fived. One fan with a loudspeaker even stood on top of the goal post and waved a flag, Tylman said.

“It was probably the sweatiest, most disgusting group of people wearing it,” Parentis said. But he called the experience “amazing.”

When they finally arrived at the landing site, the group released the weight. Sure enough, Tylman recalled, when the goal post hit the water, “It sank!” Police were quick to disperse the crowd afterwards, but for the fans who made the trip it was a triumphant end to an unforgettable evening.

Vanderbilt defeated Alabama on October 5 in a historic college football game (Photo: Denny Simmons/The Tennessean/USA Today via Imagn Images)

Much of the excitement came from the unexpected nature of the victory. Vanderbilt, which started 2-2 this year after finishing 2-10 last season, was a 22.5-point underdog heading into the game. Alabama had lost to an unranked opponent just three times before Saturday as a top team.

Tylman noted that most of the fans in attendance were there for Alabama.

“The atmosphere was very much like, ‘Yeah, it’ll be nice to see Vanderbilt lose,’” he said.

“I think one of my friends made a joke along the lines of, ‘How funny would it be if they won?’” Tylman continued.

Subsequently, Vanderbilt never trailed in the game. An early touchdown from Sedrick Alexander was followed by a pick-six from Randon Fontenette in the first quarter. That gave Vandy fans hope early on. Quarterback Diego Pavia continued to perform, throwing for 252 yards and two touchdowns, and the Commodores completed a historic victory, beating Bama for the first time in 40 years and handing the Crimson Tide their first loss of the season.

The loss sent Alabama (4-1) to No. 7 in the rankings, while other schools rose after a weekend of setbacks. Vanderbilt (3-2) is still unranked but received 26 votes in the latest AP poll. They travel to play Kentucky (3-2) on Saturday night. But even if the Commodores don’t win another game this season, Parentis said he doesn’t care. The climax has already happened.

“We defeated Bama. We beat the No. 1 team in the country,” he said. “That’s still good enough for me, but I would like to see us still working with other teams. Right now it’s a win-win situation.”

As for the goal post, the The Nashville Fire Department has removed pieces from the river and brought them back to Vanderbilt. The school is now auctioning the pieces along with other gaming supplies. Six- and eight-inch goal post pieces sold for $4,035, while a four-inch piece sold for $1,005.

Although Parentis didn’t leave with the goalpost on Saturday, he said the memories of the chaos would linger.

“The most important thing we said when we walked over the goal post was, ‘There will never be a better point in college than this,’” he said.

Required reading

(Photo: Denny Simmons/The Tennessean/USA Today via Imagn Images)