Vanderbilt stuns Alabama for first win vs. No. 1 team - ESPN

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Fans of the Vanderbilt Commodores danced onto the field, jumping up and down as they tore down a goal post, carried it out of the stadium and rang out sweet sounds of victory.

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

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

Vanderbilt (3-2, 1-1) was 0-60 all time versus AP top-five teams before Saturday, the longest such streak in the poll era (since 1936). The Commodores hadn't beaten Alabama on the field in 40 years, but they snapped a 23-game skid by making big play after big play to give coach Clark Lea his alma mater's biggest win ever.

«This is the dream, right here,» Lea said. «And for the next 12 hours, I'm going to enjoy the dream. We've got more ahead of us, but this is what Vanderbilt football needs to be about: big wins on big stages. We're going to go get some more.»

Alabama had just moved to the top of the AP Top 25 after an emotional win over Georgia. The Tide opened as 22.5-point favorites over Vanderbilt at ESPN BET; it's the first time an AP No. 1 team lost as at least a three-touchdown favorite since 2008, when USC fell to Oregon State as a 25-point favorite.

Alexander capped the game's opening drive with a 7-yard TD to put Vandy ahead to stay. It marked the first time since 2007 that Vandy had opened a game against Alabama with a TD, the last time being Nick Saban's second game as coach.

The Tide (4-1, 1-1) helped Vanderbilt pad that lead with too many mistakes, sloppy play and penalties.

Alabama got