Inside the six-day mad dash to make Tennessee's field playable after an epic party

Amid the jubilation, exuberance and wide madness aft Tennessee bushed Alabama for the archetypal clip successful 16 years past Saturday, 1 antheral stood successful Neyland Stadium waiting connected what loomed for him successful the aftermath.

Darren Seybold grew up successful Alabama. He knew what a life-changing lawsuit it was for Vols fans to spot their squad instrumentality down the Tide. So arsenic helium stood watching tens of thousands of Tennessee fans tempest the tract for the archetypal clip since 1998, helium wasn't surprised.

"That's a storied programme that has won a batch successful the past 12 years. We haven't," Seybold said. "Everybody thinks [the large rivalry] is Tennessee-Florida, but it's truly not. It's Tennessee and Alabama. I'm from there, I know. This was a large win. I mean, archetypal clip successful 16 years, you knew it was coming close there. You can't halt it. You conscionable gotta fto it go."

Seybold understood the hysteria. But that doesn't mean helium had to similar it. Because arsenic the manager of sports aboveground absorption for the Vols, this was his enactment nether siege. He has overseen each the playing surfaces for Tennessee athletics, and has spent 12 years successful Knoxville, but this was a once-in-a-quarter-century event. The goalposts? Gone, dunked into the Tennessee River. The schoolhouse was fined $100,000 by the SEC for fans entering the field, which was littered with garbage, a crippled of turf meant for 22 players alternatively mashed by thousands of delirious fans.

Tennessee enactment retired a lighthearted plea for a crowdfunded replacement for the goalposts instantly aft the game. But Seybold said helium already had it nether power acknowledgment to years of watching and talking to different guys successful his presumption of what to expect connected Saturday. Turf managers unrecorded a behind-the-scenes life, and it's a close-knit fraternity successful the business.

"I astir apt heard from 90% of the SEC guys," Seybold said. "The goalposts coming down, you benignant of expect it. So we already had a set-up and acceptable to go. We've been atrocious for truthful agelong that we watched a batch of goalposts travel down successful the 12 years that I've been present from afar. You conscionable benignant of larn from everybody like, each right, man, this is what you're successful for."

He said helium was flooded with congratulatory texts from crossed the country. "Then obviously, immoderate were saying like, 'Dang, man, cipher likes to spot writer torn up anywhere,'" Seybold said. "Most of these guys person been done it."

The solemnisation scenes dominated societal media, but 1 successful peculiar got the attraction of his colleagues. There was a pistillate ripping up a immense chunk from the Vols' trademark checkerboard successful the extremity portion astatine Neyland Stadium. It inspired a chap tract manager astatine Oklahoma to see his ain reaction, saying, "If this happens to me, I'll request bail money."

If this happens to me, I'll request bail money. pic.twitter.com/zIreAL8mQn

So however did Seybold propulsion disconnected a flawless tract for a location crippled against UT-Martin with a noon ET kickoff Saturday, aft it was trashed conscionable a week prior?

"You're going from the highs of beating Alabama that you hadn't done successful 16 years to playing an [FCS] team," Seybold said. "But our instrumentality base, buddy, they don't attraction if we're playing a precocious school."

Seybold and his unit did it with the full shed of tract implements. We're talking aerators, fertilizers, mowers, blowers and Shop-Vacs to vacuum the grass. A batch of vacuuming grass. Because erstwhile Tennessee beats Alabama, there's a unsocial situation aft the assemblage spills onto the field.

"When you archetypal spot each the cigars you're like, what is each that? They got dropped, but past they got shredded. So we had each this baccy laying everywhere," Seybold said of the celebratory cigars the winners of the rivalry ever smoke, successful a heavy Alabama accent. "But betwixt shoes and cigar tubes ... we couldn't get implicit the magnitude of clothes. OK, what'd you do, locomotion retired of present naked?"

Maybe so, due to the fact that determination was ample grounds that not galore of those solid cigar tubes went location connected anyone's person.

Dr. John Sorochan, a distinguished prof of turfgrass subject successful the Department of Plant Sciences astatine Tennessee, witnessed the wreckage first-hand. Sorochan, a go-to advisor for the NFL Players Association for inspecting tract information astatine neutral-site games, similar successful London, happens to tally an esteemed halfway for diversion tract information connected field successful Knoxville, truthful helium went to spot the aftermath for himself.

"I went determination and I virtually picked up 7 heaping handfuls of breached solid from the cigar tubes and cigar caps," Sorochan said. "It was crazy."

Seybold said his unit -- Bryan Ogle, William Barnett, Cain Clifton, Marty Wallace, Brandon Frazier -- each went retired and walked the field, inch by inch, due to the fact that a subordinate getting chopped was their biggest fear.

"We got six backpack blowers and we blew the full tract disconnected by hand," Seybold said. "Anytime we recovered a spot of glass, we'd emblem it. Then we came backmost with Shop-Vacs and sucked up each the glass."

Besides solid and clothes, determination were a fewer different surprises. Apparently, the Vols are truthful cool, they deterioration their sunglasses astatine night. Well, wore.

"We were amazed," Seybold said. "I'm telling you, Costa Del Mar, Oakley and Maui Jim. ... I warrant they had a batch of profits successful Knoxville this week due to the fact that we recovered a batch of 'em conscionable smashed, lenses gone. Every clip you prime up a frame, that's $200. I'm similar dang guys, this is adding up quick."

Sorochan offered up his ain surprise.

"They recovered a full bottle, a large grip of Buffalo Trace bourbon that was empty," helium said. "Someone got that into the stadium somehow."

The trash was 1 happening (the tract unit stayed until astir 2 a.m. cleaning up garbage). Then the existent enactment started to get the greenish worldly increasing again. His biggest interest was that the tract is soil based underneath the turf, truthful helium was disquieted astir however compacted the aboveground would beryllium by each those fans.

Sorochan has a doctorate, truthful we'll fto him bash the calculations connected however galore of the 101,915 successful attendance that time made their mode down.

"It was enarthrosis to shoulder, and the mean idiosyncratic is astir apt astir 1 and a fractional quadrate feet," helium said. "So determination were astir apt 50,000 radical connected the field."

There was besides the substance of the agronomic catastrophe inflicted by fans looking to instrumentality location their ain souvenir pieces of the field. Seybold said they cognize who the instrumentality was who was helping herself to pieces of the checkerboard, adjacent if helium didn't privation to nark her retired to a reporter. Several eBay listings soon popped up, with Neyland writer fetching anyplace from $3 for a fewer sprigs to much than $100 for 1 listing with an representation of a instrumentality holding up a representation of the writer with the tract successful the background.

"One happening astir Tennessee fans, buddy, you don't privation to get connected their incorrect side," Seybold said. "They've already recovered retired who she is. Supposedly her reply was she did this successful '98 [when the Vols upset No. 2 Florida]. And that we had other writer laying astir anyway. I conjecture if that makes you slumber astatine night, we'll spell with that story."

He didn't person it lying around. But helium knew who did. Seybold called successful Carolina Green, a Charlotte institution that specializes successful diversion sod and sometimes volition re-sod full NFL fields successful the mediate of a season.

"It comes successful large rolls and 1 large rotation tin measurement implicit 2,000 pounds," Sorochan said. "But the tiny country that they patched, that portion volition measurement astir 80 pounds, possibly 100 pounds, and it's truly heavy -- astir apt an inch and 3 4th heavy portion of sod -- and they enactment it successful truly choky that adjacent a 300-pound shot subordinate moving and stomping connected it won't dislodge it oregon prime it up."

Sorochan is simply a writer guy. So helium doesn't spot the entreaty of taking that circumstantial crippled of turf home, getting into the, uh, weeds to explicate why.

"It's Latitude 36 Bermuda grass, overseeded with a perennial ryegrass -- a cool-season grass," Sorochan said. "You could spell instrumentality it location and turn it, but it's conscionable Bermuda grass. You could bargain it anywhere."

But we cognize that doesn't matter. The writer astatine Home Depot didn't travel from the aforesaid spot of ineffable sod wherever Josh Heupel had conscionable vanquished Nick Saban.

James Bergdoll is the manager of parkland attraction for the City of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is the existent president of the Sports Field Management Association. He noted that he's a Purdue grad who didn't rather recognize this level of obsession, coming from Big Ten country. He had sympathy for his chap tract managers crossed the state.

"It goes to a full antithetic level down successful this portion of the country, and it's chaotic to spot them bash that," Bergdoll said. "They're seeing this arsenic an accidental to say, 'Yeah, man, I was connected the tract erstwhile we bushed Alabama for the archetypal clip successful [16 years] and here's a portion of the writer that came up from the field.' You privation the squad to triumph and bash good but successful the end, for the fans to bash what they've been doing astatine the outgo of each that enactment that gets enactment into it, that's a hard pill to swallow for anybody."

But the Vols' tract unit made it look seamless. It was a week-long effort. Seybold said helium started connected the writer connected Saturday night, spraying fertilizer.

On Sunday, his unit came backmost with the blowers to get it clean, past "aerified it, to get arsenic overmuch compaction disconnected it arsenic we could," Seybold said. They covered the tract -- they're called maturation blankets successful the concern -- connected Monday, due to the fact that the somesthesia didn't get supra 36 degrees Tuesday aft a acold beforehand moved in. They spent that Tuesday putting successful the caller goalposts they had painted the time before. On Wednesday, they sprayed much fertilizer, started coating the tract and finished up the overgarment occupation Thursday. On Saturday, they kicked disconnected astatine noon ET, checkerboards intact and a lush, green, glass-free tract acceptable for a 65-24 triumph implicit the Skyhawks.

Seybold is good with a chaotic week, arsenic agelong arsenic it happens lone each 25 years oregon so. He said seeing Clemson fans connected the tract aft each crippled would get aged truly accelerated for him. "If we bushed UT-Martin and they stormed the field, we'd beryllium like, 'Come connected everybody, what are we doing? Let's beryllium smart,'" Seybold said. "I've been arrogant of our fans. Six years ago, we bushed Florida for the archetypal clip successful 10 years, past bushed them again this twelvemonth for the archetypal clip since past and they didn't unreserved it either."

Now that it's over, helium tin exhale. Even if he's uncomfortable with the attention.

"I don't privation anybody to cognize my sanction to beryllium honest," Seybold said. "If they cognize my name, there's a problem. Nobody knows it unless thing atrocious happens."

And Seybold tin beryllium arrogant that cipher knew his sanction this weekend.

"You figure, bud, successful '98 and 2022, I mean, that's what, a 24-year difference?" helium said. "We'll instrumentality the $100,000 good and determination on."

Sorochan doesn't deliberation determination volition beryllium a reprise anytime soon due to the fact that the Vols are backmost and tin expect to win.

"They won't beryllium rushing the tract anymore due to the fact that it volition spell backmost to what it utilized to beryllium successful the heydays of the '90s and aboriginal 2000s," Sorochan said.

Just similar that, the writer is greener astatine Neyland again.