Vanderbilt is shoving Nick Saban's words in the face of Alabama after historic upset over the Crimson Tide

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Travis May | Last updated Oct 5, 2024 11:59 PM ET

Vanderbilt just pulled off one of the greatest SEC conference game upsets in the history of college football as they unbelievably defeated Alabama 40-35 on Saturday night. Just one week removed from Alabama defeating Top 5 ranked Georgia the Crimson Tide strolled into Nashville, likely expecting to demolish the Vanderbilt Commodores as they have many times before.

Not today. After an early pick six thrown by Jalen Milroe and a quick strike from Vanderbilt after that the Alabama Crimson Tide never recovered. True freshman wide receiver Ryan Williams tried to save the day late with another absurd 50+ yard touchdown score, but it wasn't enough.

Alabama had beaten Vanderbilt 23 times in a row. The last two games totaling 114 points for Alabama and just 3 points for Vanderbilt. Someone forgot to remind the Vanderbilt players of that apparently. However, Vanderbilt fans and those in charge of the sound system at the Commodore's stadium did not forget some comments from Nick Saban a few short weeks ago. And they made sure to shove Saban's words right into Alabama fans' faces as they were leaving the stadium on Saturday.

Vanderbilt Stadium is playing Saban’s comments about their stadium from the Pat McAfee Show on a loop, over and over
— Steven Godfrey (@38Godfrey) October 6, 2024

What did Nick Saban say that got Vanderbilt fans looking for any change at revenge?

"The only place you play in the SEC that's not hard to play is Vanderbilt." - Nick Saban

Nick Saban 3 weeks ago:

"The only place you play in the SEC that's not hard to play is Vanderbilt.”

pic.twitter.com/YUL6E6KTrx
— College Football Report (@CFBRep) October 5, 2024

Nick Saban went on the Pat McAfee show a few weeks ago and declared that the only place that isn't difficult to play is Vanderbilt. And it was those words that Vanderbilt decided to play on loop at the stadium after the wild upset victory.

In all fairness, Nick Saban isn't actually wrong in his critique of Vanderbilt's stadium atmosphere historically, but it's still quite hilarious that the Commodores were ready to play his quote on repeat on Saturday.

As many Vanderbilt fans will attest, when a big time SEC team comes to town the vast majority of the stadium is usually filled with the away team's fans. Unfortunately, many Vanderbilt season ticket holders realize that if they sell their Alabama tickets, or Tennessee tickets, etc., that their costs for the season are typically covered by the sale of just that one game. Thus, Vanderbilt rarely actually has a true "home" environment at all once they hit SEC conference play.

Regardless of how terrible Vanderbilt's typical "home field advantage" might be, it turns out they didn't need it against Alabama this weekend. This was a monumental win for the Vanderbilt program, head coach Clark Lea, and it's the first time since 1984 that the Commodores defeated the Crimson Tide. Hopefully Vanderbilt fans start to turn out a bit more for home games so they can prove Saban and any other doubters wrong again very soon.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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