Vanderbilt Football Makes Strong College Football Playoff Case in Win Over Kentucky; Column
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NASHVILLE—Diego Pavia walked off the turf at FirstBank Stadium, raised his hands into a heart shape and expressed his gratitude to the remaining crowd on his senior day. It could be the last time that Pavia ever runs off of this field in a Vanderbilt uniform, but if it is then his performance had enough to satisfy every remaining itch that he had inside of this place.
As Pavia exited the playing surface and embraced Vanderbilt offensive line coach Chris Klenakis and head coach Clark Lea, he had already become Vanderbilt’s record holder for passing yards in a game with his 517-yard performance while adding to his Heisman Trophy rèsumè. It was the quintessential legacy-sealing performance for Pavia on a day in which all of Nashville pointed its eyes at him.
This program has never seen a player like Pavia and it’s never seen a performance like he put together on Saturday afternoon. The Vanderbilt quarterback was as deserving of a curtain call as any Vanderbilt player has been on any particular day.
“It was an amazing feeling,” Pavia said. “I'm super thankful for the crowd, the fans, they showed up this year.”
Lost in the euphoria that surrounded Pavia and his herculean performance was the idea that the Vanderbilt quarterback was in a position to be taken out of the game at all. The idea was only possible as a result of a complete, dominant performance by this Vanderbilt team on Saturday.
The 45-point outing that Vanderbilt put together against Auburn in this place a few weeks ago wasn’t equivalent to its 45-17 win over Kentucky on Saturday. That first game left plenty to the imagination, this one didn’t do any of that.
Vanderbilt led for the entirety of Saturday’s game, outgained Kentucky 604-315, won the time of possession battle 36:11-23:47 and had the look of a team that wanted to humiliate Kentucky more than it wanted to beat it in a football game.
It was as complete and as ruthless of a performance as this team has put together to this point.
“It was our night,” Lea said. “This team showed up for them, and I thought we handled ourselves coming off the bye week really well. Sometimes these late season byes can disrupt a little rhythm. This group is ready to play and we put together a performance that I think we need to be proud of and we need to celebrate.”
Saturday included Pavia–and his mom–flashing the Heisman Trophy pose, Richie Hoskins having his senior-day moment, Vanderbilt’s defense entirely shutting down the same Kentucky offense that put 38 points on Florida a few weeks ago and most of its core of walk-ons finding their way into the game in its closing minutes. By the end of it, Vanderbilt had its first nine-win regular season since 1915 and its first undefeated home season since 1982.
On a day that Vanderbilt needed to find a way to make a statement to the College Football Playoff committee, it made as compelling of an argument as anyone in the country that it should jump a few teams in Tuesday-night’s rankings. It did it in a fashion that allowed everyone in attendance to learn something about it, too.
Its defense, in particular, indicated that this team may be rejuvenated enough to pick up a win against Tennessee in a week.
“It looked to me like we returned to form,” Lea said of Vanderbilt’s defense. “I thought defensively we were organized tonight. Now, this was a really hot team, Kentucky. I got a ton of respect for them, a ton of respect for Mark Stoops and the program he's built. I've said this before. I think in so many ways, he's modeled what building a program looks like in this conference, and so they've really found a rhythm here as the seasons wore on, and we needed to play well on defense.”
Vanderbilt just needed to stay alive on Saturday night in order to find its way into a meaningful game at Neyland Stadium next weekend, but it more than met expectations in Saturday-night’s performance. Its defense was rugged and shut Kentucky down for three quarters and its offense was as explosive as it’s been all season.
It was legendary for Pavia and was enough to make a strong case to the College Football Playoff committee as well as the Heisman Trophy committee, both of which should be watching Vanderbilt football at this stage.
In the midst of all the talk of the College Football Playoff talk, the talk of Lea’s extension and Vanderbilt’s chances in the Jared Curtis sweepstakes, this group came out and took care of business with its seniors in mind.
"I wasn't going to pull back just because this needed to be a statement win for us," Lea said. "I'm going to be honest that was as much about our seniors as it was about whoever's making the decision to count us in or count us out the way I see it. We need to be focused now on finishing at Tennessee and finishing in Knoxville, and that's how we give ourselves the best chance."
_(1)-b3e453dfe426b2dd4b83a12540ebdb37.jpeg "Joey Dwyer")
Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Southeastern 16 and Mainstreet Nashville.
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