For the Vanderbilt Commodores, a historic 10-win season should have been a coronation; instead, it became the catalyst for a bitter fight against the College Football Playoff establishment. Beating teams like the South Carolina Gamecocks, LSU Tigers, and Missouri Tigers wasn’t enough to crack the postseason picture. No wonder Diego Pavia made his feelings clear to the CFP committee.

“It’s a lot of politics at the top with what’s going on,” Pavia sounded desperate in a conversation with ESPN analyst Matt Barrie, as tweeted on December 4. “If you look at our strength of schedule at the beginning of the year, there’s no other 10-2 SEC team left out.”

On December 2, the College Football Playoff slotted Vanderbilt at No. 14, even after Pavia and crew stomped Tennessee 45–24 to finish 10-2. Still, it wasn’t enough to crack the top 10, the magic number for a playoff invite. The BYU Cougars, Miami Hurricanes, and Texas Longhorns were ahead of them.

Notably, Texas may have squeaked past Vanderbilt 34-31. But its three-loss résumé, highlighted by a brutal 29-21 defeat to Florida Gators, did the Longhorns no favors.

On the flip side, BYU claimed a key 24-21 victory over the ranked Utah Utes. Miami opened the year by topping the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 27-24, making both squads stronger early-season statements.

“We’ll play one through 12 anywhere, any place,” Pavia sounded all desperate to sway the committee. “Just give us a chance. That’s all we want.”

If this mythical 13th game were actually on the table, logic says it would have to be against another Playoff outsider; perhaps No. 12 Miami, No. 13 Texas, or No. 15 Utah. However, Vanderbilt hasn’t hinted at a preferred opponent.

Teams can play a 13th regular-season game. But only if one of their scheduled matchups is in Hawaii. For Pavia and the Commodores, that would’ve meant somehow getting another bubble team, like Miami or Utah, to agree, securing a venue, and arranging a full-team trip to Hawaii on extremely short notice.

Wild as it sounds, head coach Clark Lea was genuinely ready to chase it.

“We will continue to fight,” Clark Lea said on December 4. “I told them to have their bags packed. If a team calls up and wants us to take a flight to go play them on Saturday.”

One could spot the spark in Pavia’s eyes when he talked about the possibility of the 13th game. While the quarterback might struggle to swallow the hard truth, a burst of exciting news just came his way.

Diego Pavia’s NIL value soars by $442K in 10 weeks

Loyalty has its rewards, and Pavia is living proof. Already one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in college football, he turned down a massive $4 million NIL offer from another program this offseason to stick with Vanderbilt.

“The offers were great, but winning is more important to me than anything,” Pavia said on the Bussin’ With the Boys podcast in June. “You’ve got other schools offering you $4 million, and (Vanderbilt) doesn’t want to pay you $4 million, but (Vanderbilt) took a chance on me.”

Fast forward to December, and Pavia’s NIL value had soared. As of November 24, he had amassed roughly $2 million, ranking 20th among all college athletes. Over the next 10 weeks, his value increased by 22%, representing a $442,000 spike. As of December 4, the total is $2.5 million. 

Pavia ties with Julian Sayin of Ohio State for the 10th-highest NIL valuation in all of college football. He has signed NIL deals with prominent brands such as Dr Pepper, Lululemon, Nike, and Ferrari, among others.

Off the field, Pavia’s making waves with NIL deals, but on it, his Heisman dreams are looking real. His stellar play has him tied with Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza at +160 on FanDuel as of December 3.

Amid all the College Football Playoff talk, Diego Pavia kept things lively. After Senator Marco Rubio suggested Donald Trump should step in if Miami got snubbed, Vanderbilt’s quarterback weighed in, voting in favor of a 16-team playoff. It shows just how much this season’s playoff snub hit them.