Goalposts in the river, victory in the air: Tennessee celebrates a huge win against Alabama

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee – There aren’t many moments in your life that you know without a doubt will be remembered for the rest of your life. Saturday night in Knoxville will live on in the hearts and memories of 100,000 fans at Neyland Stadium and untold thousands more in Tennessee and beyond. That 52-49 win, that hard-fought triumph over hated Alabama, will live on in the minds of thousands forever.

But just to be sure, Tennessee fans wanted souvenirs.

The kick wasn’t nice, not even tight

Chase McGrath’s game winner spun in all directions as he traveled 40 yards — and not much more — through the goalposts at Neyland’s south end. Even before the ball landed in the hands of one lucky Vols fan to be remembered forever, Tennessee fans poured over the brick walls and onto the field.

That was release and relief, pure and simple. Tennessee had defeated Alabama for the first time in 15 years, had made it big on the national stage for the first time in a generation. The Vols had ducked around Alabama in the first half and then withstood the relentless march of the tide. Tennessee had watched their 18-point lead turn into a seven-point deficit, sweating 15 seconds on the clock for what could have been Alabama’s game-winning 50-yard field goal.

This was the cheer of staring in the face of oblivion and surviving to tell the tale. On the crowded field, fans and players alike lit victory cigars, the sweet thick haze mingled with sweat and grass. Parents held their children on their shoulders. Couples and families posed for shots that will land on holiday cards across East Tennessee in 2022. Singing, part profane, part joyful, all at breakneck volume, filled the air. And in an added twist of the knife, Neyland Stadium’s PA system blasted “Dixieland Delight,” the Tennessee-based song that Alabama has adopted as its own.

“I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you,” said one fan, pointing to everyone in his line of sight. Another, so stunned by the moment, lay face down in the grass, his phone flying like the fumbling that could have cost Tennessee the game — but didn’t. The fans glanced at the coolers still filled with bottled water by both benches, then rushed on as security snarled at them.

The story goes on

And then the fans went to the goalposts.

This game could have gone south for Tennessee so many different times There was the 18-point lead shattered, a breaker that silenced the “Rocky Top” chanting crowd. At the start of the third quarter, McGrath missed an extra point. There was an interception by Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker late in the third, with Alabama leading the whole game for the first time. There was Hooker’s disastrous fumble that caught Dallas Turner for a touchdown to take Alabama to 7. And then there were those final field goals — a miss, a hit, heartbreak and celebration just yards apart.

Each time, Tennessee found a way through. Every problem had a solution.

Your average goal post weighs somewhere in the vicinity of 900 pounds, impossible to lift alone for most, but an easy task for a motivated, dedicated crowd. The crazed Vols fans brought down the south goalpost first – the one through which McGrath had kicked the game winner – pulling the center post out of the ground and loosening the two posts. At the other end of the stadium, the fans ripped the bar straight off the post.

The posts disappeared into the crowd, reappearing from time to time like a swimmer in a rough tide. They presented a unique problem: How exactly do you get 30 foot high and 18 foot wide goalposts out of a stadium?

Somehow the posts separated from the crossbar at the south goalpost. It’s far easier to move a single post than an entire array of goal posts, so these quickly disappeared into the night. The intact U-shaped north goalpost circled the field and even went through the stands without fitting through any of the exits.

However, the south crossbar was just wide enough to exit the northeast exit…as long as Tennessee fans could work together for the common good.

This could be one of those goal wins, a single win that unlocks so much more. Hooker should jump to the forefront of the Heisman conversation, and the Volunteers will be big in the rearview mirrors of the states of Georgia and Ohio. SEC championship, playoff berth, national championship… it’s all in the picture now.

Hooker finished with 385 yards on 21-of-30 passing, five touchdowns and that one ultimately inconsequential interception. Jalin Hyatt caught six passes, five of them for touchdowns. Anytime you can hang onto a team in Alabama for half a century, you’ve made a good day.

The fans work the south crossbar from the northeast entrance showed impressive common sense by working the pole up an eight-foot fence and threading it through the steel beams that supported the northeast stands. Several Vols fans rode the crossbar and tried to guide it like Santa Claus guides his sleigh. The team carrying the crossbar reached the stadium’s outer gate and together passed the two ends of the crossbar through a gate that was far too narrow to pass through frontally.

Unfortunately, not every ride in Tennessee ended in victory. When the crossbar reached Middle Drive outside of the stadium, local law enforcement stopped the fun, forcing the crew to drop the crossbar and disperse. One of the crossbar riders, a college student covered in orange endzone paint who gave his name as both “Alexander” and “Joseph” — “I don’t want to get arrested” — summed up the chaos. When asked what he planned to do with the bar, he simply said, “I don’t know.”

Back at the stadium, as carts blew thousands’ trash into the middle of the field, the north goalposts faced the southeast corner of the stadium. Fans pose by them like hunters with trophies. At the other end of the stadium, others wrote their names and other messages (“F— Bama!”) on the still-standing orange poles. A few enterprising fans tore up some patches of checkerboard turf before being escorted away by security.

The posts of the south crossbar performed better. They made their way to the Strip and walked up and down Cumberland Avenue for about an hour before the crowd led them to the Tennessee River.

The hollow post rocked on the water as the crowd cheered. Soon enough, it will be fished out and almost certainly dismantled into souvenirs, a tangible reminder of one of the truly great victories in Tennessee football history.

One way or another, every Vols fan in Tennessee will carry a piece of that night with them for the rest of their lives.

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Contact Jay Busbee at [email protected] or on Twitter at @jaybusbee.