Clark Lea just said the quiet part out loud, and the rest of the SEC should probably be paying attention. Vanderbilt dismantled No. 10 LSU 31-24 on Saturday at FirstBank Stadium and clinched bowl eligibility for the second straight season. They improved to 6-1 for the first time since 1950, but the Commodores’ head coach didn’t exactly pop champagne. 

When asked about reaching that magical six-win milestone that guarantees a postseason berth, Lea’s response was ice cold. “It’s not something that we’ve thought about. We have higher goals,” the head coach told reporters after the game. That quote encapsulates everything about what Vanderbilt has become under Lea’s watch. This isn’t the same program that used to celebrate making it to the Birmingham Bowl. This is a team that just beat LSU for the first time since 1990. This is the team that dominated them with 239 rushing yards. And this is the team that had a ridiculous 36:33 time of possession advantage.

The Commodores’ fans watched their quarterback strike the Heisman pose after a 21-yard touchdown run, and their coach is acting like it’s business as usual.​ The LSU win was a statement. Diego Pavia put on an absolute clinic, completing 14 of 22 passes for 160 yards and a touchdown while adding 17 carries for 86 yards and two more scores on the ground. 

He accounted for 246 of Vanderbilt’s 399 total yards and didn’t commit a single turnover. His 21-yard touchdown scramble in the third quarter put Vanderbilt up 31-21 and essentially broke LSU’s back. And then there was the veteran move late in the fourth quarter when Pavia slid short of the goal line instead of scoring, letting Vanderbilt run out the clock with LSU out of timeouts. That’s football IQ and composure you don’t typically see from a team that was supposed to be happy just getting to six wins.​

What makes this Vanderbilt team different is that Lea has fundamentally shifted the culture and expectations. “It’s not that I don’t want it to sound like I’m not excited about the fact that we’ve secured a postseason bid, but we’re really interested in taking this as far as we can,” Lea explained postgame. He’s intentionally set his team’s sights higher than last season’s 6-6 bowl appearance because he genuinely believes this group is better. 

And the results back that up. This is Vanderbilt’s second consecutive year of bowl eligibility, something the program hasn’t done since it qualified for three straight bowls from 2011-2013. Lea even went as far as saying Diego Pavia should be in Heisman Trophy contention. And after watching him carve up an LSU defense that was allowing just 11.3 points per game coming into this matchup, it’s hard to argue. The Commodores are 12-7 since the start of the 2024 season, and they’re not sneaking up on anybody anymore.​

The Heisman dark horse nobody saw coming

If you’re wondering why Clark Lea feels so confident about Vanderbilt’s “higher goals,” just watch Diego Pavia play for about five minutes. The 6-foot, 207-pound quarterback is someone who makes you believe anything is possible. And after that LSU performance, Lea made it official: Pavia deserves to be in the Heisman Trophy conversation. “He should be in Heisman contention,” Lea told reporters postgame. 

The numbers back up the claim easily. Through seven games, Pavia’s thrown for 1,409 yards with 14 touchdowns and just four interceptions while completing 71.4% of his passes. But it’s what he does with his legs that makes him truly dangerous. He has 352 rushing yards and two more scores on the ground. But his specialty is his uncanny ability to make defenders miss and extend plays when everything breaks down.​

Pavia is leading the Commodores to their best start in 75 years, sitting at 6-1 and ranked No. 17 in the country. And now Vanderbilt has a legitimate shot at the College Football Playoff. His dual-threat ability and sporting an 82.5 QBR that ranks 14th nationally make him one of the most dynamic players in college football. And unlike some Heisman candidates who pile up stats in blowouts, Pavia’s doing it against elite competition in the SEC.​