
Diego Pavia is confident ahead of No. 16 Vanderbilt’s trip to No. 10 Alabama.
Why shouldn’t he be? The Commodores beat the Crimson Tide 40-35 a year ago as Alabama turned the ball over twice and had the ball for fewer than 18 minutes in the loss. It was the Tide’s first loss of the year and came a week after a big win over Georgia.
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This year, Alabama already has a loss thanks to its Week 1 defeat at Florida State. But Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt also comes a week after a Crimson Tide win over Georgia and the Commodores enter at 5-0 with wins over Virginia Tech and South Carolina.
Pavia completed 80% of his passes and threw for two TDs in the win over Alabama a season ago. A second straight victory over the Tide will make him one of the Heisman favorites. And he thinks the Commodores are more than capable of beating the Tide again.
“I don’t know what they’re doing, I just focus on us, but I know we’ve got to bring it, that’s for sure,” Pavia told On3. “The crowd, I think, is going to be a big factor in the game. But we just gotta play within the white lines. If we do that, if we play our game, it won’t be close.”
The sixth-year senior is no stranger to big road wins in the state of Alabama. In 2023, Pavia led New Mexico State to a 31-10 win at Auburn. He transferred to Vanderbilt after the 2023 season and started for the Commodores as they went 7-6.
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Former Texas A&M QB and Heisman winner Johnny Manziel has become friends with Pavia after moving to Nashville and will be in attendance on Saturday. Manziel led one of the most iconic upsets at Bryant-Denny Stadium in recent history with his performance against the Crimson Tide in 2012.
That game vaulted Manziel to the forefront of the Heisman Trophy conversation and he won the award at the end of the year. Could something similar happen for Pavia? After Alabama, Vanderbilt has games against LSU, Missouri and Texas. All three are currently ranked in the AP Top 25.
“I beat [Alabama] once,” Manziel told On3. “Diego’s got a chance to beat them twice. That’s the kind of s*** they build statues for.”
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