The Southeastern Conference (SEC) has announced a $50,000 Ole Miss resulting from football fans storming the field after the Rebels' upset win over Alabama.
According to the Clarion-Ledger, it is the school's third such violation in as many consecutive seasons. In 2012, the Rebels beat Mississippi State and in 2013 it was LSU and the fines have increased from $5,000 to $25,000 to $50,000, where it will now stay if they want to make it four in a row.
Ole Miss came into the game ranked 11th in the AP Top 25 poll and was hosting third-ranked Alabama. Thanks to a brilliant performance from quarterback Bo Wallace and a second half in which they outscored Alabama 20-3, Ole Miss pulled the improbable upset.
The result was utter madness.
Fans swarmed the field, climbed up onto the goal posts, bent them down and even took them back with them to their parties to celebrate the victory. Ole Miss athletic director Ross Bjork took to Twitter after the dust settled and did not seem too concerned with the fallout. He posted a link to a website where people could donate money to the school's athletic department and indicated that donations would go toward the fine from the SEC and replacing the goal post. Ole Miss goes on the road this weekend to play 14th-ranked Texas A&M and then comes back to Oxford to host Tennessee the next week.
The win vaulted Ole Miss to third in the nation, though total poll points left Ole Miss and Mississippi State tied. The latter pulled an upset of their own 95 miles away in Starkville, hosting Texas A&M.
According to the Dallas Morning News, Saturday night's matchup in College Station, Texas could break a football attendance record for the entire state. After undergoing renovations, Kyle Field can fit 106,000 fans and the current record belongs to the Dallas Cowboys, when they opened their new stadium in 2009.