Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia Takes Shot at Big Ten Before Second Season in SEC

The Commodores quarterback respects the SEC, but made sure to get a good jab in at the Big Ten on a podcast appearance.

Vanderbilt capped off its first winning season in over a decade with a Birmingham Bowl win last season. / Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia is not short on confidence heading into his final season of college football.

The Commodores quarterback was instrumental to the program's surprise 2024 season that included an upset of Alabama and a trip to a bowl game for the first time since the 2018 season. The Commodores capped off the six-win regular season with a victory in the Birmingham Bowl over Georgia Tech to finish the year at 7–6. It was Vanderbilt's first winning season since 2013.

Pavia is hoping to continue with the program's ascent in his final season at the college level, and he's starting the trash talk in June, as he says if kids want to "play with the best" that they should come to the SEC.

"You want to play with the best, you don't want to play with the Big Ten. ... You ignore those calls. You know that," Pavia told the Bussin' with the Boys podcast. "The SEC is like nothing. Like okay, the Big Ten, you have Ohio State, Oregon. The SEC it's like week after week. You're going to get beat on. The Big Ten, you're not gonna get beat on with the Purdue, Nebraskas."

It's a bold statement from Pavia given Vanderbilt's lack of program success over the last decade, when the program was seen as a perennial doormat in the SEC. Pavia and the Commodores will be out to prove that 2024 was no blip and that the program's days as one of the worst teams in the SEC are over.

---

More College Football on Sports Illustrated

feed