While we admire the confidence that Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia plays with, he surely can't be serious, right? Earlier this offseason, the veteran quarterback raised plenty of eyebrows when he said that Vanderbilt is going to take over as the main program in the state in the SEC.
Throwing shade at the Tennessee football team? Sure, why not. At SEC Media Days, though, Pavia has even more people talking thanks to his recent comments. Long story short, Pavia said that he's back in Nashville due to some unfinished business. That business is to help Vandy win the National Championship this year. What?!
“The mission ain’t finished. We want to win a national championship.” — Diego Pavia pic.twitter.com/YSg3nENQCz
— Chris Low (@ClowESPN) July 14, 2025
Diego Pavia has everyone talking after his Vanderbilt-National Championship take
Again, we admire Pavia's confidence, but come on, dude - there's just no way he actually believes Vandy is going to win it all in 2025. While the Commodores were busy in bringing in plenty of talent in recent months, it's still not enough for them to be considered a threat in the SEC.
Last campaign, Tennessee dominated play in Nashville, giving Pavia all sorts of problems in the regular season finale. With that win, the Vols captured win No. 10 on the year and it helped book their trip to the College Football Playoff for the first time ever.
This season, the Vols are expected to rock with Joey Aguilar as the QB1 and he'll of course be ready to light up the Vandy defense when the two sides meet at Neyland Stadium. This is a rivalry that has been dominated by the Vols and that's not going to change in 2025.
Pavia can talk a lot of smack and he's going to be ready to try and back things up this fall. However, putting Vanderbilt and the National Championship in the same sentence is something he needs to stop doing immediately. It's never going to happen and neither will the Commodores overtaking Tennessee as an SEC powerhouse for the long haul.