Biggest Takeaway is How Vanderbilt Vanquished Both Demons and Doubters at Tennessee

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — This Vanderbilt team just secured its magnum opus.

It was as magical and serendipitous as anyone within this program could’ve hoped. Vanderbilt
always believed that it could knock off the program that had pushed it around throughout recent
history and it did it on Saturday.

By the end of the night it was smoking cigars in the locker room, chanting “VU” and waving
around belts as to symbolize what it had just done. The celebration that Martel Hight and Miles
Capers demonstrated was fitting after what Vanderbilt did to Tennessee.

The Commodores outscored Tennessee 24-3 in the second half of Saturday’s game and took
the game by a 21-point margin. The win gave Vanderbilt its 10th win for the first time in program
history and its first win over Tennessee since 2018.

Now it gets to celebrate.

If that doesn’t make a case to the College Football Playoff committee then nothing will.

No. 14 Vanderbilt just knocked off a ranked team by 21 points, dominated it in the second half and
demonstrated its explosiveness with a 582-yard performance.

The eye test was in Vanderbilt’s favor on Saturday. So was the margin of victory.

Vanderbilt made perhaps the most impressive statement of any team on the playoff bubble on
Saturday night. What it did should be considered, at the very least.

How about Diego Pavia?

Pavia made a statement over the summer as he declared that Vanderbilt would soon run the
state of Tennessee and was called crazy.

Turns out he’s not as crazy as everyone thought.

By the end of this thing, Pavia had hit the Heisman Trophy pose in the end zone, celebrated in
the locker room, made it rain in the end zone.

Overall, Vanderbilt tallied 582 yards of total offense at Tennessee, with the quarterback throwing for 268 yards and a touchdown, and ran for 165 yards and another score. he completed 18 of 28 passes, and few might complain about his two interceptions. One of the key stats that will get overlooked is the Commodores converted seven of 10 third-down chances.

"Take me to New York."@VandyFootball's Diego Pavia letting it be known he wants to be a Heisman finalist 😤 pic.twitter.com/MSbiAg6cSM
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) November 30, 2025

Vanderbilt running game

Vanderbilt got just about anything it wanted on the ground Saturday. The Commodores ran for 314 total yards on 8.5 yards per carry and demonstrated that it didn’t need to do this thing solely on the back of Diego Pavia’s arm. Pavia did lead the charge with his legs, though.

Vanderbilt’s star quarterback averaged 8.3 yards per carry and a long of 41 yards, while his touchdown came on a 24-yard scamper. Running back Sedrick Alexander also ran for 115 yards and 11.4 yards per carry on the way to three touchdowns.

Jordan Matthews declared earlier this fall that he was now on the winning side of this rivalry.

Turns out he was right. pic.twitter.com/pOJEtuR7Wb
— Joey Dwyer (@joey_dwy) November 30, 2025

Vanderbilt’s defense shuts down Tennessee in the second half

It appeared to be pretty clear within the first few drives that Vanderbilt would have to win this thing with its offense. Yet, it held Tennessee to three second-half points and propelled it to a second-half blowout of the Volunteers.

The narrative that Vanderbilt has had an entirely poor defensive season became misleading in late November. The Commodores held Kentucky to just over 100 yards in the first three quarters last week and locked down one of the SEC’s most explosive offenses on Saturday.

That indicated that this group could put Vanderbilt in a position to win a College Football Playoff
game if given the opportunity, regardless of the opponent.

Vanderbilt’s defense wasn’t at its sharpest–particularly early in the game–but the difference in
Saturday’s final score came as a result of the Commodores finding themselves in the second
half and avoiding this becoming a shootout.

Turnovers

Vanderbilt made things harder on itself as a result of squandering a few drives. Diego Pavia turned it over twice, once on an interception when Vanderbilt was on the precipice of reaching the red zone and again on a downfield throw to Tre Richardson on the sideline. Its margin for error is big enough for that not to matter these days, though.

This story will be updated