Vanderbilt Commodores Superstar Joined Elite Group with Win Saturday
For some reason, the Vanderbilt Commodores, who entered the week with a 5-3 record overall including a win over the Alabama Crimson Tide who were the number one team in the country at the time, went into Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday as an underdog.
The Auburn Tigers entered the week with a 3-5 record, with their best win of the year being a 24-10 victory over the 3-6 Kentucky Wildcats.
The Commodores asserted their dominance Saturday, beating the Tigers 17-7 as an underdog on the road, proving once again that, at least for this season, Vandy needs to be taken more seriously.
The win gave Vanderbilt its sixth of the year, making the program bowl-eligible for the first time since 2018, and giving the team its third Southeastern Conference win of the campaign, something the team also has not been able to do since 2018.
While the Commodores have joined the list of teams that are bowl-eligible this year, superstar quarterback Diego Pavia joined another list that is a little more exclusive.
"Pavia is also now 3-0 career against teams from the state of Alabama, and he became just the 13th QB in the past 20 years to pick up wins against Auburn and the Tide in the same season," writes David Hale of ESPN, "joining stars like Joe Burrow, Johnny Manziel and Matthew Stafford and somehow also Mitch Mustain."
Yes, one of those things is not like the others, but the first three names on that list are superstars in the college football landscape, with two of the three also being superstars in the NFL.
Burrow and Manziel both won Heisman Trophies, which Pavia will more than likely miss out on, but it is still a very prestigious group to be a part of.
It is a testament to the talent and ability that Pavia has brought to the team this year, as he continues to add to his draft stock.
The first year of the expanded College Football Playoffs has been everything that we were promised it would be, and it has even added a competitive Vanderbilt Commodores football team.
Head coach Clark Lea has done a fantastic job of turning this program around this year, after starting his tenure at the helm with a 9-27 record overall, and it will be interesting to see if he can continue to be successful moving forward.
Diego Pavia has been a huge part of that success and continues to make history and join exclusive lists of elite players.
