Thousands of jubilant fans decided to join him as Kendre Miller crashed into the end zone and helped TCU to an overtime win against Oklahoma State last Saturday. They jumped over the railing in Cowboy’s boots and sundresses, sneakers and flip-flops and dropped Amon G. Carter about seven feet onto the field of his stadium.
One fan quickly took off his shirt to reveal a perfect Texas farmhouse tan. Quarterback Max Duggan, who passed the ball to Miller, didn’t break his stride when fans put their arms around him for an impromptu selfie. We settled around midfield as we were lifted into the air by two cheerleaders to DJ Khaled’s “All I Do Is Win.”
A few minutes later, in a joyful locker room, Horned Frogs coach Sonny Dykes returned to address the team after completing a claustrophobic post-game interview on the field. But there was one problem. A good number of players were still not inside. Some were still stuck outside celebrating with a field storm, a familiar scene in college football.
It happens almost every week these days, but in three of Week 7’s biggest games, close, tight-ending games are the driving force behind the “pitch invasion” called across the pond. I saw it happening. TCU delivered his 14-point comeback, similarly successful around 12:00 a.m. Eastern Utah time. But in Knoxville, Tennessee, the capital of college football, the field has been a rage for 15 years.
There, the goalposts also collapsed in a scene reminiscent of 1998, when the Vols beat Florida en route to the national championship. But when the party was over and Dykes and his team arrived in his locker room, someone was cleaning up as the Knoxville goalposts were being marched outside Neyland Stadium and thrown into the Tennessee River. I have to.
That’s where people like TCU’s Sports Turf Manager, Andrew Siegel, come in. Siegel dealt with a similar scenario earlier in the season after the Frogs blew Oklahoma. In the Oklahoma State game, the field was in his storm as the Frogs launched their comeback.
“When it looked like an option, I was like, ‘Oh, they’re not keeping anyone out of this thing,'” Siegel says. “But I definitely have an easier job. [my counterpart at Tennessee] Looking at the pictures I saw after that, it looked a little rough, so I’m going to move on. Our fans were a little more cordial than they were in Knoxville, to say the least. ”
The timing of this field rush was not the best for Siegel and his staff. Mid-October is the time when ground crews plant ryegrass seeds over existing Bermuda lawns in a process called overseeding. Even after compressing the Bermuda grass, it doesn’t take long to put it back together. But only a week or so did he drop a rye seed during an Oklahoma State game.
After waiting for fans and equipment to be cleared from the field, Siegel and a crew of eight get to work. 5 lawn mowers (costing between $80,000 and $100,000) to work without damaging blades or avoiding costly repairs before regular maintenance of the field after the game , need to clear the debris. They wear backpack leaf blowers and metal detectors to make sure they get everything.
“The first thing you have to do is start cleaning, because you really never know what you’re going to find,” says Siegel. “I think we found the phone and returned it to its owner, because if we lost it, the world would end. We also found sunglasses, pocket knives, lighters, peanuts, pizza dough, and beer cans. .”
At least Siegel didn’t have to replace the goalposts. A spokesperson for the Tennessee State Track and Field Department said: sports illustrated Just in case, that since 1998 there has been a series of stored and dismantled goalposts under the student section. They cleaned and painted them within his 48 hours, and he assembled them a day later, even after the school launched a “goalpost fund” to raise money for the replacement. rice field. (Modern uprights cost between $10,000 and $20,000. knoxville news sentinel.) The SEC has also fined all schools $100,000 for rioting in an attempt to discourage the practice.
Field employees have re-installed the goalposts at Neyland Stadium…
Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel/USA TODAY Network
… after fans dismantled the former pair in celebration of Tennessee’s victory over Alabama.
Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel/USA TODAY Network
As for stolen turf, a spokesperson said the grounds crew at Neyland Stadium kept extra emergency turf just in case. By last Wednesday, it would be “pretty difficult to tell what Saturday’s post-game celebration was ever about.”
Siegel and his staff were able to do most of the heavy lifting to fix the fields. They added seeds on Saturday night and laid down a layer of manure, which they don’t normally do. Another thing that will speed up their process is that TCU will have a game this Saturday (as will Tennessee). Both are natural turf, but Utah is artificial turf. Utah’s sports department did not respond to a request for comment on post-game cleanup.
Siegel expects the Frogs to do well when they host West Virginia.
Fans, meanwhile, seem to ignore the road team during on-field celebrations, but who knows what happens when thousands of people are in that emotional swell .
Case in point: Texas A&M’s upset against Alabama last season at Kyle Field.
“Maybe it was the week before [that] When I had an internal operational meeting with the game event staff and myself and my boss at the time, as well as the university police, we weren’t talking about whether or not we beat Alabama specifically, just discussing if the fans chose to storm the field. did. Nick McKenna, Assistant Athletic his director of sports fields at Texas A&M. “What are our protocols? What is our approach? What is our business? How do we handle it? Security Where does his staff focus? People What is your exit strategy to pull the .
Midway through the fourth quarter before the Aggies won with Seth Small’s buzzing kick, McKenna began communicating with staff about the possibility of fans flooding the field. All staff were assigned equipment such as pylons and goal post covers. They also made sure there were people to monitor Bama’s side business.
Making sure home and visiting head coaches are escorted off the field unharmed is part of the program’s post-game planning.
David E. Crusoe/Sports Illustrated
A&M has hydraulic goalposts that drop within 30 seconds of pressing a button, but in practice the school removed and stored the hydraulic cylinders to protect them from the elements throughout the year. Instead, they chose to station state troopers at the base of the posts as a deterrent. Tearing down a goalpost might look fun, but it’s not safe when the post snaps, and the 10ft high crossbar and 40ft high stanchions drop with considerable force. .
It’s also not safe for players trying to get off the field amidst the influx of fans.Alabama wide receiver Jermaine Burton captured on video It appears that he hit a woman as he left the field. Saban said his team was investigating the incident, handles the discipline internallyTexas Tech was fined $50,000 for pushing a Texas player while a fan rushed across the field earlier this season. I broke my leg while I was there.
“People don’t pay attention to what’s going on or what’s going on because they’re caught in the moment they rush into the field without being aware of what’s going on around them. “This Alabama state trooper and our college trooper were actually jogging the Saban coach off the field when a girl jumped onto the field, stopped in front of him, and we The university police actually trucked her in. No malice.It literally happened right away.She stopped right in front of him.He was just for a moment.She was lying on the ground. Coach Saban almost tripped over her.”
Field storms are a chaotic and indelible part of college sports. It’s almost all celebration, but if thousands of people decide to come out onto the field in a wave of emotion, be it a PA announcement, a police march to the field, or an attempt by event staff to No one can do much to rope off the post-match handshake. Despite the work involved in the aftermath, some people involved in cleanup don’t really care.
“When I entered the industry 20 years ago, as a young and skilled field manager, it haunted me,” says McKenna. “That’s part of what makes college track and field so great. Now, is that what I want every week? Ideal? No, but at the same time, you embrace it. No. Go out and have fun.Have fun.We’ll do our job, cover it, and do everything to make the field right after.
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