Tear down the goalposts? Why not!
In the most recent collegiate football game, Alabama vs. Vanderbilt, the unbelievable occurred; Vanderbilt, an unranked SEC team, beat Alabama, currently ranked number one. This momentous occasion caused quite a stir amongst Vanderbilt fans.
Luke Dalton, a sophomore economics major, attended this game and had his own story to tell.
“I went there originally as a Bama fan because my family are Bama fans,” Dalton said.
In a stadium packed with more Alabama fans than Vanderbilt, the winning team’s fans were ecstatic.
The story continued with Dalton ending up removing his Alabama gear and following the rush of Vanderbilt fans down to the field, where they swarmed for a bit before rushing to tear down the goalposts.
Aside from two specific football teams, the Packers and the UK Wildcats, he admitted the teams he supported could change.
“I always root for the underdog,” Dalton said.
And that’s exactly what Vanderbilt was, the underdog.
Dalton specified that tearing down the goalposts is not a common occurrence in college football as it can cost a ton; Vanderbilt was fined $100,000 by the SEC for this. Why would fans be so determined to tear down the goalposts when the damage costs are so high?
“SEC, it just means more,” Dalton said. “For a lot of guys, this is their final shot to even make it to football on the college level.”
Dalton continued by explaining why college football is so special for the players. For many collegiate players, their senior year is their final chance to play football. Many will not go to the NFL because it is incredibly selective. Even with the newer leagues such as the UFL, for many, this is their final shot to make an impact on the football field, so to be able to take down the number one team in the country is truly amazing.
For college football fans, the teams they support mean more than in the NFL. People who support college teams may be parents or grandparents who went to that school, or maybe it’s just been ingrained in them ever since they were little. In contrast, the NFL is more focused on the business aspect of football as they buy the best players regardless of their background, and collect fans based on statistics rather than a key component to attract a fan to the team.
“You’re losing some of the pageantry [of college football],” Dalton said. “You wanted to go to the University of Alabama because of the tradition of the University of Alabama.”
In this conversation, Dalton pointed out that college players go where they want, to the universities that mean the most to them. College players play for the team that they are most connected to. NFL drafts are based on money and statistics, not the location and connections of the players.
This game between Alabama and Vanderbilt emphasized this tradition among fans when a win that could not have been predicted happened. Because of the improbability of this win and the emotional ties between the team and the Vanderbilt fans, they celebrated in the age-old tradition of tearing down the goalposts for the win that will go down in history.
