“We don’t do that here.”

That’s the familiar refrain from Alabama football faithful when another school’s fans rush the field following a victory, rather against Crimson Tide or another team. While the exact truthfulness of that statement is a bit dubious, as history uncovered by AL.com shows some fans on the field through the years, its true that Alabama has never been fined for field entry by the SEC.

The league started fining for playing field rushes in 2004. Since then, the SEC has passed out 40 such penalties across all sports, 28 for football according to data provided to AL.com by the league office.

Alabama football has been the subject of seven such field rushes that resulted in fines, more than any other program in the league. Every team that has beaten Alabama in its home stadium since 2010 has seen its fans storm the field at the final gun.

LSU football sat just behind the Tide, as the subject of six field rushes. Kentucky basketball sat third, with five.

The Wildcats were fined for six rushes from 2004 through present day, all football. That’s more than any other school in the league.

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 was the first time fans of the Volunteers, who will 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, totalling $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.”

From the start of field entry fines through Sept. 30, when Ole Miss fans rushed the field after beating LSU, schools paid out over $3.6 million in total penalties and over $2.8 million for football alone.

LSU led the way in fines, paying out $605,000, all for football, most recently against Alabama last season. Auburn tied that number in all sports, but paid “just” $505,000 for football, with the other $100,000 coming from men’s basketball.

The highest fine ever paid after beating Alabama is $250,000, which Auburn paid in both 2017 and 2019. Still, as high as fines have continued to get, they haven’t stopped schools from being willing to pay them after big wins.

“Gladly,” Missouri athletics director Desiree Reed-Francois reportedly told Gabe DeArmond of PowerMizzou when asked if she’d pay the $250,000 penalty with fans streaming onto the field after the Tigers beat Kansas State this season.

Sometimes, the moment is worth the price.

SEC field entry fines by school

Arkansas

Feb, 18, 2006, men’s basketball (Florida), $5,000

Nov. 15, 2014, football (LSU), $25,000

Sept. 11, 2021, FB (Texas), $100,000 (2015 fine structure)

Feb. 8, 2022, MBB (Auburn), $250,000

Auburn

Nov. 30, 2013, FB (Alabama), $5,000

Jan. 16, 2016, MBB (Kentucky), $100,000 (2015 fine structure)

Nov, 25, 2017, FB (Alabama), $250,000

Nov. 30, 2019, FB (Alabama), $250,000

Florida

Feb. 19, 2022, MBB (Auburn), $50,000 (2015 fine structure)

Kentucky

Nov. 4, 2006, FB (Georgia), $5,000

Sept. 15, 2007, FB (Louisville), $25,000

Oct. 13, 2007, FB (LSU), $50,000

Oct. 4, 2014, FB (South Carolina), $25,000

Sept. 22, 2018, FB (Mississippi State), $100,000 (2015 fine structure)

Oct. 2, 2021, FB (Florida), $250,000

LSU

Oct. 25, 2014, FB (Ole Miss), $5,000

Oct. 13, 2018, FB (Georgia), $100,000 (2015 fine structure)

Oct. 22, 2022, FB (Ole Miss), $250,000

Nov. 3, 2022, FB (Alabama), $250,000

Ole Miss

Nov. 24, 2012, FB (MSU), $5,000

Oct. 19, 2013, FB (LSU), $25,000

Oct. 4, 2014, FB (Alabama), $50,000

Sept. 30, 2023, FB (LSU), $100,000 (2023 fine structure)

Missouri

Nov. 20, 2013, FB (Texas A&M), $5,000

Nov. 28, 2014, FB (Arkansas), $25,000

Sept. 16, 2023, FB (Kansas State), $100,000 (2023 fine structure)

South Carolina

Feb. 15, 2005, MBB (Kentucky), $5,000

Jan. 26, 2010, MBB (Kentucky), $25,000

March 1, 2014, MBB (Kentucky), $25,000

Nov. 19, 2022, FB (Tennessee), $100,000 (2015 fine structure)

Tennessee

Jan. 21, 2006, MBB (Florida), $5,000

Oct. 15, 2022, FB (Alabama), $100,000 (2015 fine structure)

Texas A&M

Nov. 24, 2018, FB (LSU), $50,000 (2015 fine structure)

Oct. 9, 2021, FB (Alabama), $100,000

Nov. 26, 2022, FB (LSU), $250,000

Vanderbilt

March 21, 2005, MBB (Wichita State), $5,000

Feb. 17, 2007, MBB (Florida), $25,000

Feb. 26, 2016, MBB (Kentucky), $100,000 (2015 fine structure)

Nov. 19, 2022, FB (Florida), $250,000

Feb. 8, 2023, MBB (Tennessee), $250,000