Vanderbilt surprises Alabama with its first win against the No. 1 team

Vanderbilt Commodores fans danced on the field, jumping up and down as they tore down a goal post, carried it out of the stadium and sweet sounds of victory rang out.

They dragged the goal post a few miles and threw it into the Cumberland River.

Their school’s historic win over No. 1 Alabama deserved to be celebrated in this way.

Sedrick Alexander ran for two touchdowns, Randon Fontenette scored with a pick-six and Diego Pavia outdueled Heisman Trophy contender Jalen Milroe as Vanderbilt defeated Alabama 40-35 on Saturday, giving the Commodores their first win over a top team.

Vanderbilt (3-2, 1-1 SEC) was 0-60 against AP top-five teams all-time before Saturday, the longest such streak in the poll era (since 1936). The Commodores hadn’t beaten the Crimson Tide on the field in 40 years, but they managed a 23-game losing streak by making one big play after another, giving coach Clark Lea the biggest win ever at his alma mater .

“This is the dream, right here,” said Lea. “And for the next 12 hours I will enjoy the dream. We still have more to come, but that’s what Vanderbilt football has to be about: big wins on big stages. We’ll get it a few more.”

Alabama had just moved to the top of the AP Top 25 after an emotional win over Georgia. The Crimson Tide opened with a 22.5-point lead over the Commodores on ESPN BET; It was the first time an AP No. 1 team lost as a favorite by at least three touchdowns since 2008, when USC lost to Oregon State as a 25-point favorite.

“We’re really going to find out how much we care about each other and what the future holds,” Alabama first-year coach Kalen DeBoer said. “We’ve really been tested in different ways in a lot of games here this season and this is a different kind of test in our response now.”

Alexander capped the game’s first drive with a 7-yard touchdown to give Vanderbilt the lead and stay. It was the first time since 2007 that Vanderbilt opened a game against Alabama with a touchdown, the last time being Nick Saban’s second game as coach.

The Crimson Tide (4-1, 1-1) helped the Commodores extend the lead with too many errors, sloppy play and penalties.

Alabama got within 30-28 on Milroe’s 58-yard scoring pass to Ryan Williams. The Commodores responded with 10 points.

13 of those points came from Milroe’s two turnovers, the second from a strip sack by Miles Capers that was recovered by Yilanan Ouattara in midfield. Pavia capped the drive with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Alabama native Kamrean Johnson for a 40-28 lead with 5:07 left.

Milroe attempted to rally Alabama, with Williams scoring an end-around from 2 yards out on fourth-and-1 with 2:46 left.

But the Crimson Tide didn’t get the ball back and Vanderbilt fans and players began cheering as Pavia knelt to run out the clock.

“Games like this change your life,” Pavia said.

Milroe’s second pass of the game was thrown into the air by De’Rickey Wright, who chose Alabama and ended up at Vanderbilt. Fontenette grabbed the ball and ran 24 yards to the end zone for a 13-0 lead at 8:03 of the first quarter.

Vanderbilt took a 23-7 lead, just the second time in the last 10 seasons that a No. 1 team trailed an unranked opponent by 16 or more points.

Vanderbilt never trailed as the Commodores played from distance, holding the ball for just over 42 minutes. They converted 12 of 18 on third down while wearing down the Crimson Tide defense.

Alabama linebacker Deontae Lawson said it’s early and everything stays ahead of the Crimson Tide.

“We never want to experience this again,” Lawson said.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.