Fans of the Vanderbilt Commodores danced onto the field, jumping up and down as they tore down a goalpost, carried it out of the stadium and let out sweet sounds of victory.

They dragged the goal post a few miles and threw it into the Cumberland River.

Their school’s historic victory over No. 1 Alabama deserved to be celebrated in this way.

Sedrick Alexander ran for two touchdowns, Randon Fontenette scored on a pick-six, and Diego Pavia beat 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 SEC) was 0-60 all-time against AP top-five teams before Saturday, the longest streak in the poll era (since 1936). The Commodores hadn’t beaten the Crimson Tide on the field in four decades, but they snapped a 23-game skid by making big play after big play, giving coach Clark Lea his alma mater’s biggest-ever win.

“This is the dream, right here,” Lea said. And for the next twelve hours I’m going to enjoy this dream. We have more to come, but this is what Vanderbilt football should be about: big wins on big stages. some more.”

Alabama had just risen to the top of the AP Top 25 after an emotional win over Georgia. The Crimson Tide opened as a 22.5-point favorite over the Commodores on ESPN BET; it was the first time an AP No. 1 team lost as a favorite by at least three touchdowns since 2008, when USC fell as a 25-point favorite to Oregon State.

“We’re going to find out how much we really care about each other and what it looks like going forward,” first-year Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said. “We’ve been tested in different ways, a lot of the games here this season, and this is a different kind of test now, in our response.”

Alexander capped the game’s opening drive with a seven-yard touchdown, keeping Vanderbilt ahead. It was the first time since 2007 that Vanderbilt had opened a game against Alabama with a touchdown, the last time being Nick Saban’s second game as coach.

The Crimson Tide (4-1, 1-1) helped the Commodores take the lead with too many mistakes, sloppy play and penalties.

Alabama pulled within 30-28 with Milroe’s 58-yard scoring pass to Ryan Williams. The Commodores answered with 10 points.

Of their total, 13 points came from Milroe’s two turnovers, the second a Miles Capers strip sack recovered by Yilanan Ouattara in midfield. Pavia capped the drive with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Alabama native Kamrean Johnson with 5:07 left for a 40-28 lead.

Milroe tried to rally Alabama, with Williams scoring on an end on fourth-and-1 from 2 yards out with 2:46 left.

But the Crimson Tide couldn’t get the ball back, and Vanderbilt fans and players began celebrating as Pavia knelt to run out the clock.

“Games like this change your life,” Pavia said.

Milroe got his second pass of the game tipped into the air by De’Rickey Wright, who committed to Alabama and ended up at Vanderbilt. Fontenette grabbed the ball and ran 24 yards to the end zone and had a 13-0 lead at 8:03 of the first quarter.

Vanderbilt jumped out to a 23-7 lead, just the second time in the last ten seasons that a No. 1 team trailed an unranked opponent by 16 or more points.

Vanderbilt never trailed as the Commodores played keep-away and held the ball for just over 42 minutes. They converted 12 of 18 on third downs while wearing down the Crimson Tide defense.

Alabama linebacker Deontae Lawson said it’s early and everything is still up for the Crimson Tide.

“We never want to see this happen again,” Lawson said.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.