Stanford Pays the Price for Celebration After Upset Over Florida State

Now the bill is due

Oct 18, 2025; Stanford, California, USA; Stanford Cardinal safety Omari Gaines (17) and defensive back Sam Neely III (28) celebrate after a victory over Florida State Seminoles at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images | Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

Stanford football may be riding high after upsetting Florida State over the weekend, but postgame conduct is resulting in the football program having to pay a big fine. After fans stormed the field following the Cardinal's upset 20-13 win over the Seminoles, the ACC announced that the school will be fined $50,000.

Regarded as an 'event security policy violation,' the incident occurred when fans entered the field of play after the final whistle, but before Florida State's personnel could leave the field.

The ACC's security policy is strict and is designed to keep players, coaches, officials and any other team personnel safe. Because it was a first offense, the fine is the initial $50,000, with more severe penalties to follow if a second offense happens.

The new event security policy was revealed on July 22, 2025 at the ACC Football Kickoff and replaces the policy in place last season. The new policy applies to football as well as men's and women's basketball.

Any and all fines collected under the security policy are donated to the Weaver-James-Corrigan-Swofford Postgraduate Scholarship fund, which helps student-athletes at ACC schools who wish to pursue a postgrad degree.

Fines are never what a school is after, but the fact that Stanford received a fine shows that the school has a growing fanbase for football, and a fanbase that shows up for the big games.

The Cardinal have home games remaining against rival schools Notre Dame and Cal this season, and if the football team pulled off a win in either of those games, it would be interesting to see how they go about keeping fans off the field while team personnel departs.

Once a top program in the nation, Stanford has since struggled mightily in football and is coming off of its fourth straight 3-9 season in 2024. But with a new regime headlined by general manager Andrew Luck, a new culture has been instilled for Stanford football. one with high expectations for the future.

Taking home the win over Florida State, the Cardinal improve to 3-4 and earn a big momentum boost ahead of another big game against Miami on the road. While the Hurricanes lost their first game of the 2025 season on Friday night, they are still the No. 9 ranked team in the nation in the latest AP Poll.

Miami and Stanford will kick off on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. (PDT) at Hard Rock Stadium with the game airing on ESPN.