Ole Miss got the gigantic win over Georgia, and then the fans at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium went and got a souvenir for downtown Oxford, Mississippi.
No matter how premature their entrance onto the field may have been.
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After the Rebels’ rainy but relentless 28-10 upset of the mighty Bulldogs, the Ole Miss student section stormed the field with 16 seconds still left on the clock, causing a delay. But soon time officially ran out on Georgia and the crowd of people filling the grass set their sights on the two goal posts. They were down before long once students climbed atop the cross bar, and carried in pieces out of the stadium.
The Oxford, Mississippi Police Department got in on the fun, using its official X account to encourage fans to bring the goal posts to The Square in Oxford. The fans evidently obliged. Traffic cameras showed fans carrying the goal posts down the streets of Oxford, and ESPN’s Molly McGrath found them in the Square, right where the police said they should go. She posted a picture of it to social media.
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This was just the second Ole Miss win over Georgia since 1996, and it kept the Rebels’ preseason hopes of making the 12-team College Football Playoff alive heading into the final weeks of the regular season. Coach Lane Kiffin’s team used five field goals and ferocious defense that forced four fumbles and a Carson Beck interception to reinsert Ole Miss in the postseason picture — and put Georgia’s playoff spot in more doubt.
The field storming that followed will cost Ole Miss a little more than just two goal posts. Since the Rebels violated the SEC’s “access to competition area” policy, which included the early entry onto the field and several students jumping up on the goal posts, Ole Miss will have to pay Georgia $250,000 as a second-time violator.
Ole Miss first fined for violating the SEC’s access to competition area policy last season, on Oct. 1, 2023, after fans stormed the field following a win against LSU.
At the moment, the price seems worth it. Ole Miss could still make the playoff and the entire scene, after hours spent in the constant rain, was a rowdy reminder of why college football Saturdays can be so unpredictably fun to watch unfold. Here’s a sampling of what happened at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium once Ole Miss beat Georgia:
