Mizzou cracks down on fans after victory over Nebraska

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Storming the field and tearing down football goal posts after a big Missouri win is a tradition school officials are looking to end.

After the arrest of 20 fans on trespassing charges following Saturday's 41-24 win over Nebraska, Missouri athletics officials said Monday they're forming an internal task force to discuss ways to stem fan rowdiness.

Gleeful fans carried chunks of the goal posts downtown, where they wielded hacksaws to cut off pieces for individual keepsakes. Fans who rushed the field were encouraged by several Missouri players to do so.

Athletics spokesman Chad Moller said the university appreciates fan enthusiasm but that rushing the field steps over the line.

"We don't condone that act, and we try to do everything we can to prevent it," he said. "It's not a safe situation, and it can obviously hurt a number of people."

Moller declined to say whether any players who encouraged fans to swarm Faurot Field would be disciplined.

The same day Missouri fans rushed the field to tear down goal posts, a student at the University of Minnesota-Morris died doing the same thing during a homecoming game.

Richard Thomas Rose, of Benton City, Wash., was killed Saturday at the Minnesota school. The cause of death was suspected to be a blow from the goal post, school officials said.