Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia was compared to multi-positional New Orleans Saints QB/TE Taysom Hill by NMMI Broncos defensive coordinator Kurt Taufa'asau – who saw something in Pavia long before New Mexico State and the Commodores did.
"Really, he was a Taysom Hill to us," said Taufa'asau, comparing Pavia to the former BYU quarterback. "Utility guy, backup tight end, backup slot receiver, running back and quarterback. He ultimately led us to the best season in school history."
Pavia put himself on the map in 2023 upsetting Auburn 31-10 at Jordan-Hare Stadium and leading New Mexico State to a 10-5 record. The Aggies lost to Liberty in the Conference USA title game after a 10-3 regular season. Pavia’s nearly 4,000 all-purpose yards and 33 touchdowns drove that run.
With Vanderbilt, Pavia is reaching an even wider national audience. Beating Alabama has already made him the hero of the early season. Through five games, he hasn’t thrown an interception yet and another upset over Texas, Tennessee, or LSU later this season may have NFL scouts in love with his big-game prowess.
Vanderbilt’s reputation is surpassing other SEC teams
The Commodores are quickly surpassing SEC counterparts after years of being seen as the conference’s bottom-feeders. Paul Finebaum already believes Vanderbilt surpassed Auburn this season.
“The fact is I heard one Auburn friend of mine say ‘Hey, at least we covered the spread (vs. Georgia).’ It makes me think was that Vanderbilt playing Georgia or was that Auburn? That’s the new Auburn right now, and that’s what’s sad,” said Finebaum on October 7. “And I don’t care what anyone thinks about the progress Hugh Freeze is making and how close they are and they’re about to turn the corner and everything I hear from people who gets inside the weeds.
“It’s October 7, and Auburn has 4 losses. That’s simply unforgivable and it’s inexcusable. And that’s knowing what we all know and knowing what this schedule looks like the rest of the way. I didn’t take a whole lot away from this game other than it could have been a lot worse, and that’s really more on Georgia than it is on Auburn…. I’m really tired of everyone getting the blame at Auburn except the guy who’s in charge of the program. It’s not easy, but he’s still 2 years in and plenty of coaches have turned things around in 2 years, especially with what’s available.”
It was more of a shot at Auburn than anything else, but Vanderbilt isn’t seen as the worst team in the conference anymore. The battle to the bottom is now between Auburn and Mississippi State.
