Hours had passed since Ole Miss fans tore down the goalposts at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium after the Rebels beat Alabama 23-17 on Saturday, but somehow one of them was making its way through the main drag in Oxford, carried by students who looked like determined worker ants.

Ole Miss student Buckner Corso said he and his friends took a goalpost from the Grove to his tailgate and then carried it around campus and to his apartment. Courtesy Buckner Corso

"The police are kind of tough around here," said Buckner Corso, who is in his fifth year at Ole Miss and finishing a graduate degree in accounting. "But we were just walking down the street, people were honking, and they were laughing at us."

Corso said some of his friends brought the goalpost from the stage area in the Grove to his tailgating area, and from there, Corso said he and about 20 others carried it around campus before it arrived at his apartment about a mile away.

After Corso tweeted a picture of the goalpost in his apartment, he quickly got a response from Ole Miss athletic director Ross Bjork.

"Save me & @CoachHughFreeze a piece," Bjork tweeted back.

He followed it up with advice.

"Be careful cutting it, or we can help you be safe and cut it up for you," Bjork said.

Come Sunday morning, Corso said he and his friends decided they would cut it up into roughly 30 pieces using a saw.

"I know I want to put an inscription on mine, and I'm going to keep it," said Corso, who didn't know whether the others would take a more opportunistic route and try to sell their pieces.

That wouldn't be anything new -- even at Ole Miss.

In 2002, after Ole Miss beat Florida, the Ole Miss Loyalty Foundation sold 100 6-inch pieces of the goalpost on wood plaques with all the details about the game for $100 each.

And yes, Corso said pieces were saved for both Freeze and Bjork.

Each goalpost costs about $4,000 to replace.

With the win, the Rebels moved up to No. 3 in the Associated Press rankings, and they are tied with their in-state rival Mississippi State at 5-0.