It sank. Of course.
It was a goalpost weighing several hundred pounds that floated into the Cumberland River. Any of the students who marched down Broadway could be forgiven for thinking it might be floating in the air. That's because several of them described something like magic in the air that night.
But the goalkeeper wasn't as exuberant as the raucous Vanderbilt fan who stormed the field at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., last Saturday for a college football upset for the ages. The unranked Commodores finished with a 40-35 victory over then-No. 1 Alabama to celebrate Vandy's first-ever victory over an Associated Press top-five team. Confusion ensued, which is understandable.
“It was basically chaos,” said Dean Parentis, a Vanderbilt senior who attended the game.
Another Vanderbilt senior, Robbie Tylman, called the postgame atmosphere “insane.”
After the competition ended, Parentis and Tylman were among the swarm of fans on the field — leading to the SEC fining the school $100,000. They were also among about 50 people, Tylman estimates, who helped carry the goalpost from FirstBank Field during the 4.5-mile trek to the river after a handful of fans tore it down.
“Students were coming up to the players, trying to wipe them down and give them high fives,” Parentis said of the on-field celebrations. “You were rushing in the middle of the pitch, trying to see the coach and take pictures. Then slowly everyone started to disperse towards the goal post on the other side of the field.
Almost instinctively, the crowd moved towards these bollards, shook them and carried them towards Broadway and the river beyond, while police tried to surround the crowd and traffic in the bustling downtown area. Tylman, who said he held the pole for about half the journey and swam alongside it in a “sea of a thousand people,” immediately recognized its purpose. Parentis, who said he helped move the goalpost from the stadium to 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-tall and about 20-foot-wide pole, which weighs several hundred pounds, around stopped cars, giving high-fives to drivers. Tylman said one fan with a loudspeaker even stood on top of the goal and waved a flag.
“It was probably the sweatiest, most disgusting group of people carrying it,” Parentis said. But he called the experience “an explosion.”
When they finally reached the landing site, the group unloaded their load. Indeed, Tylman recalls, when the pole hit the water, “It sank!” Police then quickly dispersed the crowd, but for the fans who made the journey, it marked a victorious end to an unforgettable night.
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 stemmed 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. Before Saturday, Alabama had lost only three times to unranked opponents as a top-ranked team.
Tylman noted that most of the fans in attendance came from Alabama.
“The atmosphere was very much like, 'Yeah, it'll be fun to watch Vanderbilt lose,'” he said.
“I think one of my friends made a joke like, 'How funny would it be if they won?'” Tylman continued.
Subsequently, in the competition, Vanderbilt never lost. An early touchdown by Seder Alexander was followed by a Randon Fontenette pick-six in the first quarter. This gave Vanda fans hope from the beginning. Quarterback Diego Pawia continued his strong performance, throwing for 252 yards and two touchdowns, and the Commodores completed a historic victory, defeating Bama for the first time in 40 years and handing the Crimson Tide its first loss of the season.
The loss put Alabama (4-1) at No. 7 in the rankings, while other schools moved up following a weekend of sadness. Vanderbilt (3-2) remains 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 most important moment has already happened.
“We beat Bama. We beat the No. 1 team in the country,” he said. “It's still good enough for me, but I'd like to see how we still perform against other teams. It's a win-win situation at this point.”
As for the goal, the Nashville Fire Department recovered pieces of the body from the river and returned them to Vanderbilt. The school is now auctioning off the pieces along with other gaming paraphernalia. The six- and eight-inch goalposts sold for $4,035 and the four-inch goalposts sold for $1,005.
Although Parentis didn't walk away with the post on Saturday, he said the memories of the chaos will remain.
“The most important thing we said when we walked off the goalpost was, 'There will never be a better time in college than this,'” he said.
Required reading
(Photo: Denny Simmons/The Tennessean/USA Today via Imagn Images)
