Diego Pavia likely will be playing his last game at FirstBank Stadium on Nov. 22.
The Vanderbilt football quarterback already has said he won’t pursue a seventh year of eligibility via the court system. And while the No. 13 Commodores (8-2, 4-2 SEC) haven’t stopped holding out hope that they could host a College Football Playoff game, that, too, is unlikely.
Pavia has 2,440 passing yards on a 70% completion percentage this season, with 21 touchdowns and five interceptions. He also has 613 rushing yards with seven touchdowns, and is listed fourth in the Heisman Trophy betting odds going into the game (2:30 p.m. CT, ESPN) against Kentucky (5-5, 2-5).
“We got to assume that this is the final time he’ll be in FirstBank Stadium,” coach Clark Lea said. “I would encourage the Nashville community to show up and watch. This guy has laid it on the line for this program, this city, for two years . . . He’s had some absolutely magical moments on that field, and he’ll leave this program having forever changed it, so there’s a celebration to be had and watching him compete for the final time at FirstBank Stadium.
” . . . I hope the Nashville community shows up, because this is a guy that has been one of the most dynamic athletes in the city for the last few years, and he’ll be someone who will be in conversations for the next 50 years here. So it’s an opportunity to watch a guy that is a Heisman contender for a reason, that we believe is the best player in the country, that has earned the right to have people paying attention to him.”
Why Clark Lea is less involved in College Football Playoff scenarios
There is a very real scenario where Vanderbilt could go 10-2 in the SEC and get left out of the College Football Playoff due to the sheer number of teams that currently have two or fewer losses.
Lea isn’t particularly invested in stumping for his team, though, viewing it as a distraction from the task at hand.
“Those are externals, and I asked the team not to focus on them, so I’m not going to focus on them,” he said. “All I know is that we strengthen our position by winning, and so do I think that we’ve earned the right? Yes, if we finish the right way, I think we’ve earned the right . . . But if I spent my time on scenarios, I wouldn’t be a coach anymore. I’d have a different job, so I’m not going to do that. We need to focus on winning, which means we need to focus on Kentucky.”
Wide receiver Tre Richardson said the team was not scoreboard watching this past weekend when Vanderbilt did not have a game.
Why Clark Lea isn’t taking over defensive play-calling
After a poor defensive game against Auburn, Lea said he isn’t taking back defensive play-calling after hiring Steve Gregory to be defensive coordinator for the 2025 season. Lea called the defense himself for most of 2024.
“Not that our defensive performance has been acceptable, but it’s not the calls,” Lea said. “It’s, we need to get organized.”
During the off week, Lea said, the team focused on improving communication and using fewer reloaded plays in practice.
“I have the back of every staff member and every player,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that we don’t demand more and that we want higher-level performance. I know that every single one of them wants that as well. They’ve been challenged, and now we go to work trying to find those areas to tighten and to improve so that we can get back to playing defense the way we played in the Missouri game.”
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X @aria_gerson.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Clark Lea on Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt football College Football Playoff hopes
