Diego Pavia appeared on the “Bussin’ With The Boys” podcast on June 16 and made several Vanderbilt football bold predictions about his team’s upcoming 2025 season.
Start with beating Alabama for the second straight season. Oh, and beating Tennessee. And they will be a national contender.
Yes. He said all of that.
“For sure, I have no doubt we’ve got the guys to do it,” Pavia told podcast hosts Taylor Lewan and Will Compton. “We’ve got the firepower, we have the depth. We’ve got the defense, the offense… we’d be selling ourselves short if I was to sit here and tell you we can’t win the national championship.”
The Commodores finished 7-6 last season, including an historic upset of then No. 1 Alabama. They earned their first bowl appearance since 2018, beating Georgia Tech 35-27 in the Birmingham Bowl.
Now, Pavia thinks the Commodores are prepared to shock the world again, including beating the Vols as they take over as the more successful college football team in the state.
“Vanderbilt’s going to run Tennessee after this year,” Pavia said. “The new staple of college football is going to happen here at Vanderbilt. Everyone wants to come to Tennessee because of Nashville. And then when we have the most money in NIL, why not come here? We literally just have to win this year and the rest will take care of itself.”
Pavia was the star of Vanderbilt’s offense last season with 2,293 yards passing, 801 yards rushing, and 28 total touchdowns. But it wasn’t until the victory over Alabama that the college football world took notice and the city of Nashville celebrated the win.
“It didn’t hit me until maybe a week after (the win over Alabama), like maybe after we beat Kentucky,” Pavia said. “But that night, it was jumping for sure. We all went to Barstool (bar), the whole top was rented out for us.
“We stayed up so late that night. And then they thought we would lose to Kentucky. But we beat them the next week, too. That’s when I got hurt, but I feel like God kind of gave me a signal right there. Like, ‘Hey you can’t just go out and party like that after a big win, you’re gonna have more big wins. That’s why he gave me another year.”
Pavia, who was a senior last season, was granted another year of eligibility following a lawsuit against the NCAA.
Vanderbilt faces a tough schedule in 2025, including road trips to Virginia Tech, South Carolina, Alabama, Texas, and Tennessee. The Commodores open the season at home against Charleston Southern on Aug. 30 (6 p.m. CT, ESPN+, SEC Network).
Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex atjdaugherty@gannett.com. Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1. Also check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.
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