• Which SEC schools have paid the most in field-rush fines? •

• 2023 Bama Sports 2023 •  Tuscaloosa, AL The Crimson Tide were one of four programs never fined for a football field rush since 2004. The others were Georgia, Mississippi State and Florida, although the Gators did pay a penalty for storming the court after a basketball win over Auburn in 2022. The Tigers themselves stormed three times for football, all of which came against Alabama, in 2013, 2017 and 2019. Auburn also was fined after a basketball win over Kentucky in 2016. The other four field rush fine penalties levied after schools beat Alabama were handed out to Ole Miss (2014), Texas A&M (2021) Alabama had never seen fans of two teams run the field until last season, when both Tennessee and LSU did it. It’s the first time fans of the Volunteers, who play Alabama in Tuscaloosa Saturday, had stormed the field after a football game during the SEC’s fine era. The totals Before the league changed its rules this year to make fines for field rushes go to the opposing team, Alabama football’s losses had made quite the contribution to the coffers of the SEC’s post-graduate scholarship fund. The last school that didn’t see its fans rush the field after beating Alabama was LSU in 2010. From 2004 through the LSU game last year, schools were fined a total of $1,005,000 for their fans rushing the field against Crimson Tide. By a significant amount, Auburn paid out the most after its Alabama wins, totaling $505,000 in fines. LSU was in second place, with $250,000. When the fines first started, schools were charged $5,000 for the first violation, $25,000 for the second and $50,000 each for subsequent rushes. Those rules were changed, and each team’s violation counter reset, in 2015, when the league made the fines $50,000 for the first time, $100,000 for a second and $250,000 each after that. In 2023, the counters reset again, while the fine amounts took another jump. First offenses are currently $100,000, second rushes cost $250,000 and the fines top out at $500,000 for subsequent penalties. The fines also now go to the visiting school. Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne was part of a working group to find solutions and proposed stripping home games from offending teams, an idea that did not find large scale support. “Fines don’t work,” Byrne said at SEC spring meetings in May. “Nobody is sitting in the stands saying ‘Well I’m not going on the field today because the university is going to get fined $250,000.’ Fans don’t care. I get it. But there has to be steps that are taken. Until you go through it yourself, and I have been on the field for a few stormings and it’s not fun. It’s dangerous. We’ve had some very scary situations that could have escalated even further.” • ROLLING WITH THE TIDE •