Diego Pavia Shares What Vanderbilt Must Do For Alabama Game to Not be Close

Alabama's loss to Vanderbilt last season is perhaps the program's worst defeat of the past couple of decades.

The Crimson Tide had just defeated then-No. 2 Georgia in an instant classic at Bryant-Denny Stadium, but all that momentum of being named the new-No. 1 team in the nation was shot down the very next week on the road against Vanderbilt. The Commodores upset Alabama 40-35, a result that very few people could've predicted.

One of those predictors was Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, who finished last year's game with 252 passing yards and two touchdowns, along with 56 rushing yards. Fast forward to 2025, ahead of Saturday's ranked rematch in Tuscaloosa, Pavia told On3's Chris Low the keys to upsetting Alabama once 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 said. “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.”

Alabama has lost five home games since 2010. One of those losses came to Texas A&M and quarterback Johnny Manziel in 2012. Pavia has been working with the Heisman Trophy winner lately and Manziel has given him some advice and motivation ahead of Saturday.

"I beat them once. Diego’s got a chance to beat them twice. That’s the kind of s--t they build statues for,” Manziel told Low.

Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer and company will face a Vanderbilt team that ranks No. 16 in the nation.

"Coach Lea, a ton of respect for him, I’ve known him for a long time," DeBoer said on Monday. "I knew a year ago, you could see and feel the positive movement that they had inside the program. You could see the style of play, it being team football. They continue to do that.

"5-0, a ranked opponent coming into our house. Just got to continue to keep the focus on us. Have to keep ignoring the noise, that’s been a huge strength that’s become of our football team, and they’ve got to continue to do that. Some guys continue to learn what it takes to come each and every week to play football here in the SEC.”

Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea is also looking forward to the College GameDay matchup.

“We feel like we’re better,” Lea said on Tuesday. “We’re operating at a high level offensively. I think we’re playing complementary style defensively. We’ve been very disruptive on defense. The havoc rate has been really high. We’re among the nations’s best in third-down distance, but we haven’t finished on third down like we need to. We’re better than we were a year ago.”

“That’s a really good team,” Lea said. “They’re solid throughout and we feel the same way about our team. We’re going to take our group down there and hope to play our best.”

Kickoff between No. 10 Alabama and No. 16 Vanderbilt in Bryant-Denny Stadium is set for 2:30 p.m. CT on ABC.

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