Goodman: Does Alabama own the greatest streak in sports history?

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This is an opinion column.

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For a long time I didn’t believe it, but it’s true. There’s a bright side to everything.

For example, Alabama picked a good year to start losing football games.

There’s a new rule in the SEC for field storming. If students rush the field after a game, then the school of field-storming marauding TikTok heroes has to pay the losing team $100K. Even celebrating comes at a price these days.

Alabama isn‘t complaining, though. The Crimson Tide is getting rich off of all these losses. In the past three weeks, Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne has collected a cool $200,000. Vanderbilt students, of course, rushed their field in Nashville after upsetting Alabama for the first time since the original theater release of “Ghostbusters.” Tennessee’s students then went crazy after this latest victory against Alabama.

At this rate, Byrne could pay most of former coach Nick Saban’s yearly “consulting fee” with a couple more losses. In retirement, Saban is getting paid $500,000 a year from Alabama for simply being the GOAT. It’s good to be the king.

Alabama has two more away games on the schedule, and both fan bases have serious field-storming potential. On Nov.8, Alabama goes to Baton Rouge, La., for a game against LSU. On Nov.23, Alabama is at Oklahoma.

LSU’s fans invaded the field at Tiger Stadium back in 2022. That was the first time for LSU to knock off Alabama at home since 2010. But fans of LSU will storm field for anything. Earlier this season, they even did it after a victory against Ole Miss.

I blame Alabama for that, too. The Tide started a national trend. These days, kids will go over the walls for bags of popcorn. It’s all just different variations of the Bama Rush.

As colleague Michael Casagrande pointed out on Sunday, the fan bases for opponents have stormed the field after the last nine home victories against Alabama. There have been some impressive runs over the years, but few statistical measures capture the mystique of a football program quite like Alabama’s impressive run of sending students over walls, through hedges and onto fields.

I could make the argument that it’s the greatest streak in sports history. For most streaks in sports, only one team gets to celebrate. When Alabama loses, the entire sports world collective shares a common euphoria. Just think about all that joy Alabama has given students across the SEC.

Joe DiMaggio had his 56-game hit streak and the UConn women’s basketball team won 111 games in a row, but Alabama’s field-storming streak dates all the way back to Auburn’s Kick Six in the 2013 Iron Bowl.

“They’re not going to keep them off the field tonight,” said Auburn’s late, great play-by-play announcer Rod Bramblett. Words that will live forever, and they still ring true today.

Here’s the active streak of Alabama field-storming opponents:

2024 Tennessee, 24-17

2024 Vanderbilt, 40-35

2022 LSU, 32-31 OT

2022 Tennessee, 52-49

2021 Texas A&M, 41-38

2019 Auburn, 48-45

2017 Auburn, 26-14

2014 Ole Miss, 23-17

2013 Auburn, 34-28

I’ve been swallowed whole by a couple of those celebrations. The SEC contends that storming the field is a danger to society. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey clearly doesn’t know ball. Storming the field against Alabama is a cultural rite of passage for thousands and thousands of lucky idiots across the South.

It might sound counterintuitive, but the best way for Alabama to keep this streak alive is win its final two away games this season.

For the sake of future post-game hysteria in the SEC, Alabama needs to knock off LSU in Death Valley and Oklahoma at Memorial Stadium. After all, Alabama can’t lose everywhere, or the losses will no longer continue to be the greatest moments for students in their entire college careers.

At this point, I’m convinced that high school students in the South pick their colleges in the hopes of one day storming the field after a victory against Alabama. In that sense, schools across the SEC should be paying Alabama even more money after rare home victories against the Tide.

Alabama losses, filling classrooms across the SEC since 2013.

But there were signs up on Rocky Top that the shine of beating Alabama might be beginning to fade. Most field invasions are instantaneous expressions of ecstasy. Take for example Tennessee 52, Alabama 49 in 2022. It was like a wave of orange onto the field after the dramatic ending. That wasn’t the case at the end of this latest road loss for Alabama. This time, Tennessee students hesitated before storming the field.

Should we be like Vanderbilt and storm the field, Tennessee asked itself. After reflection, the answer was yes.

What‘s Alabama going to do with all its losing loot? It’s a shame that Alabama can’t spend its extra cash on paying players, but that’s still against the rules of the NCAA. Oh, I know. Perhaps coach Kalen DeBoer can buy some new collared shirts.

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Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the book “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”