Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia has never been shy about speaking his mind. And his latest comments make it crystal clear where he stands on the Commodores’ postseason destination. Vanderbilt is ranked 14th in the College Football Playoff rankings, just outside the 12-team bracket, with no conference championship game to play their way in. Diego Pavia did not entertain the possibility of being happy with the Bowl Game if it meant sacrificing the College Football Playoffs.

During his appearance on Bussin’ With The Boys on Monday, Pavia didn’t mince words about where his focus lies. When the conversation turned to the bowl game, if Vanderbilt doesn’t make the playoff, Pavia’s response was emphatic. “F— That,” he said. He even pointed at the CFP bracket and said, “This is all you want to play for.” He made it abundantly clear that anything short of the 12-team field would feel like a letdown after everything the Commodores accomplished this season. It’s a bold statement that would sound arrogant coming from most programs. But after what Pavia and Vanderbilt pulled off in 2025, it’s hard to argue he hasn’t earned the right to dream big.​​ 

In 2025, Pavia threw for 2,924 yards with 26 touchdowns against just six interceptions while completing 71.8% of his passes. But those numbers only tell part of the story. He also rushed for 661 yards and eight touchdowns at five yards per carry. He was the best dual-threat engine in the entirety of college football. Vanderbilt’s offense was the most efficient offense in terms of yards per play. 

His performance in the season finale against Tennessee was marvelous. Pavia delivered 268 passing yards, a touchdown, a career-high 165 rushing yards, and another score. That Tennessee victory was the validation of a prediction Pavia made months earlier. Back in June, Pavia boldly declared, “Vanderbilt is gonna run Tennessee,” and said, “F–k every single one of them dudes” from Knoxville. He backed it up in emphatic fashion, helping the Commodores outscore the Volunteers 24-3 in the second half.

The problem for Vanderbilt isn’t their resume. It’s the politics of selection. Their two losses came against Alabama (who beat them 34-14 in Tuscaloosa) and Texas (a 30-27 nail-biter). Those losses are “critical” in the committee’s eyes, but they both came against top-10 opponents on the road in the nation’s toughest conference. The Commodores’ best win over Tennessee (who finished 8-4 and ranked 19th) doesn’t match the elite victories other bubble teams possess, which has led most analysts to project Vanderbilt’s playoff chances somewhere between slim and none. 

The PFSN College FPM gives them just a 5% chance of making the 12-team field and a 0.5% chance of reaching the CFP semifinals. Even Vanderbilt’s chancellor, Daniel Diermeier, felt compelled to release a public statement arguing that “the evidence is clear: Vanderbilt has earned its place in the CFP, and Diego Pavia deserves to win the Heisman.” But words from Nashville probably won’t sway committee members meeting in a conference room somewhere.​

Now, Tuesday night’s penultimate CFP rankings will likely tell the story. And if Vanderbilt’s name isn’t inside that top 12, Pavia’s dream of playoff football will die, replaced by a bowl game invitation he’s already made clear he has zero interest in celebrating.​​

Vanderbilt takes unprecedented step 

It’s not every day you see a college program turn into its own PR firm. But that’s exactly what Vanderbilt did when they released a detailed document on social media, making their playoff case point by point. The document reads like a legal brief meets marketing pitch, systematically breaking down the CFP selection committee’s own evaluation criteria and showing how the Commodores measure up across every single metric. It’s a desperate move that shows just how frustrating this whole process has become for Clark Lea.

What makes the document particularly interesting is how it weaponizes the committee’s own words against them. Vanderbilt ranks 22nd nationally in strength of schedule. They’ve beaten multiple ranked opponents at the time they played. They lost only to teams currently in playoff contention, Alabama (headed to the SEC Championship) and Texas (who just beat No. 3 Texas A&M). 

The Commodores led the entire SEC in scoring differential at plus-75 and delivered opponents their worst conference losses of the season. Yet despite checking nearly every box, Vanderbilt sits at No. 14, and as Lea himself pointed out, there seems to be an inherent “bias” against his program simply because they’re Vanderbilt. 

They’re not hoping the committee notices them. They’re force-feeding their resume to anyone who will listen, leveraging the exact language and standards the CFP supposedly uses to evaluate teams. Whether you see it as savvy advocacy or a sign they know they’re already on the outside looking in probably depends on how you feel about Vanderbilt’s chances in the first place.​