SEC issues Tennessee hefty fine after fans storm field to celebrate win over Alabama
The SEC informed the University of Tennessee on Sunday that they must pay a hefty fine for the fans storming the field after the win over Alabama. Vols fans are still riding high after the 52-49 victory that broke a 15-year losing streak.
Tennessee’s will be $100,000 as it is the team’s second offense under the league’s current access to competition area policy. Tennessee last paid a $50,000 fine for a violation following a basketball game against Florida in 2006.
On top of the $100,000 fine, Tennessee officials must also scrounge up the money to replace the goalposts at Neyland Stadium. On Sunday afternoon, the football program tweeted out a request for donations to pay for the replacement goalposts before their next game – which is next weekend versus Tennessee-Martin.
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The fund for the goalposts has already received more than $13,000 at the time of this posting.
Josh Heupel on Tennessee win: ‘This is college football at its absolute best’
After 15 long years, Tennessee fans can light their cigars. The Volunteers defeated Alabama — and Josh Heupel had an emphatic reaction after the game.
“Rocky Top, this is college football at its absolute best,” he told CBS’ Jenny Dell.
Neyland Stadium was rocking all day long as the No. 6-ranked Volunteers took on No. 3 Alabama Saturday afternoon. All 102,000 people in attendance saw a thriller as both teams traded scores all game long. But one team had to come out on top, and thanks to the leg of Chase McGrath, Tennessee fans got to celebrate.
“Our team competed 60 minutes,” Heupel said amid the field storming. “These fans were phenomenal. What an environment, man.”
The Volunteers started out hot on offense and never looked back, putting up more points than any Nick Saban opponent during his time at Alabama.
For Heupel, the second-year Tennessee head coach, he knows fans have waited a long time for a night like this.
“It’s about this team, for our former players, our fans,” Heupel said. “We know what this means.”
On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report.