A wild weekend on West End saw Vanderbilt Football topple the previously No. 1-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide, 40-35, under the bright lights of FirstBank Stadium. The win itself — astronomical in nature as it was the first time the Commodores defeated a top-five team — wasn’t the only thing that made national headlines. 

Upon the game’s conclusion, fans stormed the field to celebrate with Vanderbilt’s athletes. Once enough of them had piled onto the turf, they went straight for the goalpost in the south end zone. Fans finally brought the goalpost down after more than five minutes of pure chaos that featured climbing, jumping, swaying and screaming. 

From there, it was a mad dash out of the stadium and onto the streets of Nashville. Fans walked nearly three miles with the goalpost, all the way from Vanderbilt’s campus to Broadway. After making their way through Broadway’s raucous streets — and picking up a number of supporters along the way — the Black and Gold faithful parted ways with their 20-foot souvenir, depositing it into the Cumberland River. 

No one was louder on Saturday night than the student section, which featured some of the first few to rush the field and made up the majority of people who made the trek with the goalpost. Students across campus reflected on this experience, from first-years to seniors and from Vanderbilt Football’s biggest supporters to people who had never even been to a game in their lives.

Among that group was senior Ethan Mesina, who stormed the field and tore down the goalpost with the mob of students. 

“The atmosphere was unlike anything I have ever experienced as a [Vanderbilt] sports fan,” Mesina said. “The journey down West End became Vandy fans’ Exodus as we marched, liberated from the stigma [Vanderbilt had] as the doormat of the SEC.” 

Mesina’s emotions were shared by a fellow member of the class of 2025, Will Growdon, who grew up in Nashville and has seen the highs and lows of Vanderbilt Football firsthand. He detailed his experience carrying the goalpost from the stadium to Broadway.

“[I] got to the stadium just as the goalpost were marching out of the stadium. There was a guy sitting on top of the posts with a flag,” Godown said. “I just can’t believe something like this happened at Vanderbilt.” 

The seniors weren’t the only ones feeling on top of the world on Saturday night. Ethan Schulman, a sophomore, expressed his gratitude for the game’s outcome. 

“I hugged anyone I remotely recognized,” Schulman said. “All else seemed insignificant in relation to the greatness that had just transpired.”

First-year Nathaniel Jones shared in that experience. 

“[It was] probably the most insane experience of my life,” Jones said. “There wasn’t a single dull moment when we were walking it down [Broadway]. People with speakers came out of nowhere blasting ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ and ‘Delta Dawn’ which was so cool. At that moment, I remember starting to see the cop cars that would be trying to slow us down for the rest of the march. As we got further into the downtown area, people started coming out of restaurants and bars to celebrate with us.”

Fellow first-year Allison Sellers noted the atmosphere on the field during the postgame celebrations and described what this win proved the world. 

“It was electric. [The stadium] was full of crazed fans and [it was] such an amazing atmosphere,” Sellers said. “It just means that we are the best and brightest.” 

Brett Takeuchi, a senior at Vanderbilt, spoke about how Vanderbilt fans encountered police officers during their journey.

“The police attempted to stop the goalpost at various points, but [we lifted it] over the cars and roadblocks they had set up. At one point, I was worried we might not reach the river, as the police had blocked an entire intersection on Broadway and were starting to break into the crowd,” Takeuchi said. “Fortunately, we managed to make a turn [around them] and continued to the Cumberland [River].”

Junior Tim Sims was one of the first few students to make it onto the field and he described the experience as a dream. 

“It was surreal and wild, and all of a sudden I was hugging the team,” Sims said. “It was one of those moments where the clock stops. I felt like I was at the center of the world. I was proud to be a Commodore.”

For some, though, the win was the culmination of something that’s been brewing; third-year Claudia Purdon expressed this sentiment. 

“When I first got into Vanderbilt my dad told me that someday [it would] upset a team and I had to be there to rush the field. I never imagined it would be [against Alabama],” Purdon said. “When I got onto the field, it was completely full circle and I couldn’t stop thinking about what he said to me.” 

Joshua Linett, a junior, felt a sense of unity with his fellow students as the crowd stormed down Broadway. 

“It was incredible,” Linett said. “Every person, whether you knew them or not, had just shared the same moment as you had. It was awesome for us to get to continue that moment together on the walk downtown.”

Students screamed and chanted as the goalpost made its way down West End and onto Broadway. Finally, the yellow goalpost smacked the surface of the Cumberland River, much to the delight of students and fans. 

“It means the world,” Sims said. “Never count us out. It shows that Vanderbilt is never ever out of the fight. I’ve spent three years sitting in the first row at every football game, and I’d do it all again to get back this moment.”

Even after Commodore nation falls back to reality after a storybook night, this game will be remembered in the record books for decades to come. 

Vanderbilt will now hit the road to face Kentucky on Saturday, Oct. 12, at 6:45 p.m. CDT in Lexington, Kentucky.