Vanderbilt’s Shocking Upset of Alabama Is a Celebration for All of College Football

Here was irrefutable proof the Nick Saban era is over for the Crimson Tide: an uninspired loss to a team that had never beaten a top-five opponent.

Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia celebrates with fans after defeating Alabama. / Butch Dill-Imagn Images

On the third floor of the Tuttle Garage across the street from Ohio Stadium on Saturday night, four Ohio State Buckeyes fans were huddled around the tail bed of a white Toyota Tacoma. A bag of Fritos and a few soft drinks were nearby, but they never took their eyes off the iPad they had set up.

They had just watched the Buckeyes thump the Iowa Hawkeyes, but that seemed like ancient history all of a sudden. The perpetual Southeastern Conference doormat Vanderbilt Commodores were running out the clock on the Alabama Crimson Tide, and the two men and their sons were watching in giddy disbelief.

Outside the garage, celebratory shouts went up from various tailgates that were running late around the stadium. Nobody wanted to shut down while one of the most shocking upsets in decades was playing out.

Similar scenes were assuredly playing out around the nation. At other stadiums. In living rooms. At sports bars. America stopped what it was doing and became riveted to a game nobody was talking about when the day began—Vanderbilt 40, Alabama 35 was simply inconceivable.

If anyone needed irrefutable proof that Nick Saban is no longer the coach at Alabama. Here it was. This was the mother of all rat poison games, to cite Saban’s eternal warning about teams absorbing too much praise and losing their edge. Kalen DeBoer might be fine at Bama—probably will be—but this is the kind of game Saban didn’t lose.

But this is also what college football does to us every fall—it springs a surprise when we least expect it. One week after the Crimson Tide defeated Georgia in an epic thriller in Tuscaloosa and vaulted to No. 1 in the AP poll, they went to Nashville and flopped like a bad country act in a honky-tonk bar.

The timeless power of motivation and the penalty of complacency have rarely been on such vivid display as this fall. Just look at Vanderbilt’s year to date, and look at Alabama’s. 

An inspired Vanderbilt team opened the season by upsetting the Virginia Tech Hokies, moved to 2–0 against FCS Alcorn State—then walked into an ambush against the Georgia State Panthers of the Sun Belt Conference. They dropped a 36–32 upset and it very much seemed to be a Same Old Vandy situation. The Dores followed that with a hard-fought loss at Missouri, then had an open-date advantage while Alabama played that slugfest with Georgia.

Alabama was sluggish against South Florida (not much motivation there) then roared back to smack Wisconsin (Big Ten opponent on the road, plenty of motivation). That was followed by the Georgia drama, after which all kinds of declarations were made (some by me). Alabama was going to be fine in the post-Nick Saban era with DeBoer; Jalen Milroe might win the Heisman Trophy; and the road to the national title once again ran through Tuscaloosa.

Then a flat team took on a fired up team in Nashville. The result was a shocker for the ages.

Wide receiver Junior Sherrill hauls in a touchdown pass. / Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Vanderbilt had never—repeat, never—beaten an AP top-five opponent—it was 0–60 in those matchups. But this wasn’t just a top-five team, it was the No. 1 team. And this wasn’t just the No. 1 team, it was Ala-freaking-bama, the king of the sport for the last 15 years and arguably the all-time king of college football. 

The Tide have won six national championships since 2009. And Vandy has won approximately nothing in the last century (seriously, the Commodores’ last conference title was in 1923). The last time the Dores beat the Tide was 40 years ago—current Vandy coach Clark Lea wasn’t even born yet.

This was a giant slaying that everyone who doesn’t wear houndstooth could celebrate. Hence the reaction in Columbus and elsewhere. America loves to see Alabama lose, because it happens so rarely. And few Tide losses have been as unexpected as this one.

This was Vanderbilt’s biggest non-academic contribution to the SEC since James Franklin left for Penn State in 2013—at least. The Dores helped all the other league members who are jockeying for position to make the SEC championship game.

Vandy scoring 40 points or more points on Alabama last happened in … 1906. The last time the Dores even scored 30 on the Tide was that victory in ’84. In their eight meetings in the 21st century, Vanderbilt averaged 6.3 points.

But this time the Commodores had quarterback Diego Pavia, a program-altering transfer from New Mexico State, of all places. The Albuquerque Tinkler generated some controversy when he urinated on the logo of the arch-rival New Mexico Lobos’ indoor facility in 2023, but he’s a charismatic winner.

Pavia led the perennial lightweight NMSU program to a 10-win season last year, then hit the portal and immediately injected some competitive attitude into the Vanderbilt program. That has showed up on the field to a remarkable degree. Against Alabama, Pavia kept making big play after big play as Vanderbilt kept moving the ball and kept scoring against a bewildered Bama defense.

After this stunner, Pavia thanked God in one breath and then dropped an f-bomb in the next. It was an on-brand interview for the Albuquerque Tinkler.

“It’s all in God’s timing literally from the jump,” Pavia said after the game. “God gave me a vision when I was a little kid. ... I’m super thankful. … Vandy, we’re f---ing turnt.

“GAMES LIKE THIS CHANGE YOUR LIFE!”

DIEGO PAVIA AFTER UPSETTING NO. 1 ALABAMA 😤 @VandyFootball pic.twitter.com/IclRKTOjzw

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) October 5, 2024

Lea spoke glowingly about Pavia’s impact at SEC spring meetings in May, saying he was a key part of his best roster yet in four seasons on the job. Saturday night was the payoff.

“This is the dream right here,” Lea said after the game on the SEC Network, gesturing at the mayhem around him in Vandy’s FirstBank Stadium. For once, the home fans were going crazy—storming the field, taking down the goalposts—while the visiting fans that often outnumber them were leaving in shock.

As of 9 p.m. Saturday night, the Vandy goalposts had made their way to Broadway in downtown Nashville, the heart of the nightclub district in Music City. The party might not stop until dawn there—and it went late in a lot of other happy locales, too. 

America loves to see Alabama lose, because it happens so rarely. And against Vanderbilt, it happens almost never.