It takes a lot of preparation and work to amass College Football wins. Unfortunately, the aftermath can take a different type of tool. Injuries pile up, and fallout can take place within programs. However, there is a new emphasis across collegiate athletics. Conferences impose fines on home teams whose fans storm the field. This past weekend, Vanderbilt upset top-ranked Alabama and took to the field after the final result became official. The goalposts and $ 100,000 from the school were taken.
The amount was imposed by the SEC. Meanwhile, Arkansas upset the #14 team in the nation, Tennessee. $ 250,000 became the price tag for the celebration from the Razorbacks. The amount is paid to the visiting school in theory for the infraction against them. As of now, this issue and enforcement are on a conference-by-conference basis. But it raises questions regarding what proponents of the ban are pushing for.
Essentially, many view it as too dangerous to have common everyday citizens be able to be so close to student-athletes in a completely disorganized manner. Notably with Iowa, Caitlin Clark, and Duke, Kyle Filipowski, the collective fan rushing resulted in both getting injured. This largely led to the increased emphasis and calls to tighten down on this post-game aspect.
Yet a lot of upsets have happened without incident. Furthermore, the tradition, in the moment, and joint activity are something that everyone who has the pleasure of attending and being a part of will remember for the rest of their lives. For an activity that has a significantly lengthy history without harm, it seems shortsighted to now crack down on this.
Moreover, it’s the spontaneous, uncontrollable nature in the middle of the field that serves as the final punctuation to what was initially seen as a complete impossibility. Unlike the NFL, there isn’t the mantra of ‘Any given Sunday’ at this level of the sport. Usually, if there is a significant talent gap that was acquired by recruiting, the team with more athletes tends to win.
Perspective of top college football wins
This is what makes the past Saturday special and why it was considered completely unlikely in the first place. Imagine being a Vanderbilt team that could easily have been predicted to go winless in conference play. Couple that expectation with a dominant home stand, and it’s easy to see why there was so much excitement. Now take Arkansas. This is a team that has been close to getting signature wins and finally did against what many consider to be one of the top teams in the nation still.
The culmination of people dedicating themselves translates into throwing caution to the wind and collectively acknowledging how great the players representing their school did. Therefore, it shouldn’t be surprising to see schools being willing to pay after college football wins. Not saying that this is the case for the two aforementioned teams in particular, but it becomes a special worth it for teams who largely have four seasons and zero hope of repeating a similar success story.
For some programs in some years, a win like Vanderbilt’s would serve as their Super Bowl. Finally, the optics of the entire student body collectively enjoying the spectacular is something that schools and administrations will want more of. Not only is it likely to help recruiting and leave a good picture to help the future of programs, but it’s an impulse that simply shouldn’t be regulated to the extent that fans are now seeing.
College football wins don’t come easy, and some are more special than others. A lot of penalties are imposed for on-field celebrations, but extending this to after the final whistle is a mistake. However, it appears that a lot of athletic departments are going to start simply budgeting for when this takes place.