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Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia (left) threw for 268 yards and ran for 165 to deliver the first 10-win season in program history. Saul Young / Imagn Images
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt remains alive for a spot in the College Football Playoff, and quarterback Diego Pavia might be more than just alive in the Heisman Trophy race after leading the No. 14 Commodores to a 45-24 rout over No. 19 Tennessee on Saturday at Neyland Stadium.
Pavia threw for 268 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 165 yards and a score to deliver the first 10-win season in Vanderbilt history. The Commodores (10-2, 6-2 SEC) need help ahead of them and hadn’t gotten much as of kickoff on their rival’s field — Texas’ upset of Texas A&M made things tougher — but also now have their best win of the season against a hard-luck Vols team (8-4, 4-4) that previously lost home heartbreakers to Georgia and Oklahoma.
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The extent to which the CFP committee values Vanderbilt will be revealed Tuesday. That result will not have any effect on the jubilation on display from coach Clark Lea’s team after his first win over Tennessee in five tries and Vandy’s first in the rivalry since 2018. Lea recently signed a six-year contract extension and is 17-8 in the past two seasons after a 9-27 start to his tenure.
This was just the fifth meeting between Tennessee and Vanderbilt in which both teams were ranked. The others were in 1941, 1948, 1955 and 1958. The stakes have never been higher for Vanderbilt, which broke into the AP top 10 this season for the first time since 1948, has three top-15 wins for the first time in program history, and a week earlier achieved its first nine-win regular season since 1915.
Pavia has been the catalyst for all of it, and he has been on a rampage through the month of November. In four games against the Vols, Kentucky, Auburn and Texas, he collected 1,861 total yards, including 1,494 through the air, with 12 touchdowns passing and four rushing.
On Saturday in front of a mostly hostile crowd of 101,915, he got off to a shaky start, throwing two early interceptions. One of the interceptions took away a scoring opportunity and both resulted in Tennessee touchdowns. But Pavia got cooking soon enough, twisting away from rushers, dropping in precise passes and getting 115 yards and three touchdowns rushing from Sedrick Alexander to bury Tennessee’s defense.
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Joe Rexrode is a senior writer for The Athletic covering college football. He previously worked at The Tennessean, Detroit Free Press and Lansing State Journal, and covered the Pyeongchang, Rio and London Olympics for USA Today. Follow Joe on Twitter @joerexrode
