A Low Grade for Diego Pavia? PFF Takeaways From Vanderbilt's Win over South Carolina

NASHVILLE—Pro Football Focus says that Diego Pavia–who was its highest-graded quarterback in the country heading into Saturday night–had his worst game of the season on Saturday night.

It appears as if Pavia and Vanderbilt couldn’t care less at this point, though. Pavia graded out at a 51.3 on Saturday, but led Vanderbilt to a 31-7 win over South Carolina behind an 18-for-25 passing day in which he threw for two touchdowns.

“He's been so efficient,” Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said. “He's a great player and anytime he takes a snap, I've got confidence that we're going to win it.”

Perhaps Pavia’s performance was best encapsulated by his block on the second level that opened up a Vanderbilt ballcarrier as he looked to turn upfield. The Vanderbilt quarterback fought and got Vanderbilt to where it needed to go on Saturday night.

There’s still more out there for him, though.

“His performance was good enough to win,” Javier Pavia–who is Pavia’s brother–told Vandy on SI, “But, we’re on to Georgia State.”

Jordan White stands out, again

White has graded out highly in all of Vanderbilt’s games to this point and while his Saturday grade was a 69.3–which was nearly 10 points lower than his grade against Virginia Tech–the Vanderbilt center was its second-highest graded offensive player.

The Vanderbilt center was also Vanderbilt’s highest-graded offensive player among those who played more than five snaps.

White received an 82.5 grade as a pass blocker and a 64.5 as a run blocker in Saturday night’s win. He’ll continue to anchor an offensive line that appears to be trending upwards for Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt’s running backs stand out in pass pro

Vanderbilt running backs Sedrick Alexander and MK Young posted 77.9 and 77.0 grades in pass pro, respectively.

South Carolina’s defensive line has often wrecked games early on this season, but Pavia appeared to have adequate time to throw often.

Time to give Vanderbilt’s backs–and culture of blocking–some credit for that.

An unbelievable day for Vanderbilt’s defense

Vanderbilt’s defense had 23 players graded out at over a 60 on PFF in Saturday’s game. That indicates its overall dominance as a defense.

Vanderbilt’s highest-graded overall player was STAR Randon Fontenette, who received an 86.9 overall grade as well as an 87.8 grade in coverage. CJ Heard also graded out with over an 80 while Bryce Cowan checked in with a 78.0.

Vanderbilt’s defense as a whole graded out as a 75.9 and didn’t allow a point after the first quarter.

Martel Hight plays more offensive snaps than defensive snaps

The plan has always been that Vanderbilt’s three-way standout would play mostly defense and would see some time on offense when need be.

Hight played 25 offensive snaps and 21 defensive snaps on Saturday, though. Perhaps some of that had to do with the score of the game and how it got out of hand, but it’s noteworthy. To be fair, Hight played 45 total snaps against Virginia Tech and 30 of them came at cornerback, perhaps that indicates that in a closer game he could have more of a role defensively than offensively.

The Vanderbilt junior received a 60.8 grade on defense and a 65.0 on offense in Saturday’s win.

Carson Lawrence gets some extended run

The talented Vanderbilt freshman played 17 snaps on Saturday, per PFF. Lawrence had yet to impact a game, but received a 67.4 grade overall in Vanderbilt’s win.

Lawrence is one of Vanderbilt’s most highly-touted recruits in recent memory, but will have to earn every snap he gets in a crowded safety room.

Saturday saw him put together an outing that included 69.1 coverage grade, but a 28.9 tackling grade.