Diego Pavia's Heisman Trophy hopes for Vanderbilt have never looked better | Estes

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Rapid reactions from Vanderbilt football’s 45-38 overtime win over Auburn on Nov. 8 at FirstBank Stadium:

Talking points

Diego Pavia’s Heisman Trophy candidacy has never looked better. The No. 16 Commodores (No. 16 CFP) would not have won this game without the heroics of their star quarterback, who proved huge down the stretch of a shootout that hardly anyone saw coming. Underdog Auburn’s offense showed up and gave Vanderbilt all it could, taking a two-touchdown lead early before the Commodores were able to punch back and keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive in a tense overtime.

Pavia’s 377 passing yards and 112 rushing yards and four TDs (three passing, one rushing) made for a Heisman kind of day, and ultimately, Vanderbilt was able to get it done and improve to 8-2 (4-2 SEC). After a bye week, all that’s left is a home game with Kentucky and a trip to Tennessee. Win those, and Vanderbilt would have the first 10-win season in program history.

This was a brutal day for Vanderbilt’s defense. Auburn’s offense, so inept that it cost Hugh Freeze his job six days prior to this game, suddenly looked unstoppable, rolling for a whopping 563 total yards and scores on each of its four first-half possessions. Quarterback Ashton Daniels kept scrambling into space and making accurate throws. The Tigers had 292 offensive yards at halftime, and that was more than they had gained in the entirety of four of six previous SEC games, the most recent of which was an embarrassing 10-3 loss to Kentucky that ended Freeze’s failed tenure.

So that was the bad news for the Commodores.

Good news was how well Pavia and Vanderbilt’s offense responded and dominated a good Auburn defense to come back and win. In doing so, the Commodores wisely — and uncharacteristically — hurried up their tempo. Auburn (4-6, 1-6) wasn’t ready for that, and it led to some big plays. Like, say, Pavia’s 57-yard touchdown throw to an uncovered Tre Richardson.
Tied at 38 late in regulation, Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea erred in opting to go for a fourth-and-1 at Auburn’s 25-yard line rather than kick what could’ve been a game-winning field goal. When Pavia kept the football and tried to run around the left edge, he tripped shy of the line of scrimmage. The Tigers didn’t turn that into points and the game went into overtime, but still, it would’ve been only a 42-yard field goal for Brock Taylor.

Where the game turned

Vanderbilt was on the ropes late in the first half, trailing 17-3 and knowing it’d be kicking off to Auburn to begin the second half. That’s what made the Commodores’ rapid, 37-second touchdown drive in the final two minutes of the second quarter so important. Pavia completed passes of 12 and 43 yards before finding Junior Sherrill for a 20-yard touchdown. It changed the momentum of the game, and at the time, it very much felt needed for Vanderbilt.

Key number

12 — Number of penalties assessed against Auburn in this game, as opposed to Vanderbilt's three.

What I liked

This game, more than any, showed how much Pavia means to his team. Auburn was steamrolling and close to finishing off Vanderbilt's CFP hopes, and Pavia simply would not let that happen. The guy is so fun to watch and so difficult for an opposing defense to stop for an entire game.

What I didn’t like

Auburn showed up in Nashville as a 6.5-point underdog that had lost five of its past six games and had just fired its coach because of how bad its offense stunk. An ill Auburn offense got healthy against Vanderbilt, and that's an alarming development for a CFP hopeful.

Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and hang out with him on Bluesky @gentryestes.bsky.social

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Diego Pavia's Heisman hopes for Vanderbilt have never looked better

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