The Tennessee Volunteers have had the best college football team in the state for decades. As Saturday's game at Neyland Stadium demonstrated, that torch has now been taken by Diego Pavia and the Vanderbilt Commodores .
Let's dive into the winners and losers from Vanderbilt vs Tennessee, with the Volunteers getting embarrassed at home on Saturday night by the Commodores.
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Diego Pavia feasted on a defense that seemingly had no understanding of what he was capable of. The senior quarterback decimated Tennessee's defense on Saturday night, sending the home crowd at Neyland Stadium home early after witnessing him put up over 400 total yards of offense. Mind you, this is after he gifted Tennessee a pair of first-half interceptions.
We wouldn't call this performance enough for Pavia to win the Heisman Trophy, as both Julian Sayin and Fernando Mendoza are leading undefeated teams. What Pavia did, however, is provide Vanderbilt with the coveted dominance it long-sought over a Volunteers football program that treated it as a little brother for decades. Whether the Commodores make the College Football Playoff or not, this was the perfect way for Pavia to put the finishing touches on his legacy with Vanderbilt.
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It appears no one told Tennessee defensive coordinator Tim Banks that Diego Pavia is arguably even more dangerous with his legs than he is his arm. The Commodores' quarterback blew past the $100$-yard rushing mark in just three quarters on Saturday night, with Banks not once resorting to putting a spy on Pavia nor making any changes to better control the dual-threat quarterback. It's one thing to simply get beat by better guys, Banks' game plan versus Pavia would've left you thinking that Tennessee was facing Garrett Nussmeier . Considering that the Volunteers defense came into Week 14 ranked $84$th in scoring defense, $61$st in third-down defense and $73$rd in total defense, head coach Josh Heupel may want to consider finding a new defensive play-caller this offseason.
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Pavia was obviously the standout for this Commodores offense on Saturday night at Neyland Stadium, but Sedrick Alexander was also instrumental in taking down Tennessee. He opened up the scoring for Vanderbilt with a 28-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter, finding open space down the sideline for the game-tying score. In the third quarter, after a methodical $10$-play drive, Alexander bounced a handoff to the outside and then beat Tennessee to the corner for the go-ahead score. This goes down as easily his best performance of the season and it came at the perfect time.
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Pavia was obviously the standout for this Commodores offense on Saturday night at Neyland Stadium, but Sedrick Alexander was also instrumental in taking down Tennessee. He opened up the scoring for Vanderbilt with a 28-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter, finding open space down the sideline for the game-tying score. In the third quarter, after a methodical 10-play drive, Alexander bounced a handoff to the outside and then beat Tennessee to the corner for the go-ahead score. This goes down as easily his best performance of the season and it came at the perfect time.
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It will be difficult for Tennessee fans to find positives in a game where their win streak and dominance over Vanderbilt came to an abrupt halt. DeSean Bishop is that one player the Vols can feel good about. Before Josh Heupel was forced to abandon the run, the star running back out of Knoxville had 2 touchdowns and 102 scrimmage yards on 20 touches. With a bowl game, the sophomore will eclipse the 1,000-yard mark in his first season as the starter, and that's thanks in large part to four 100-yard games since Oct. 11. He'll need to be a bigger focal point for Tennessee next season.
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We're certainly not advocating for Josh Heupel to be fired, as he's easily been the best coach this Volunteers football program has had in more than a decade. However, Heupel needs to hold himself accountable for some of the things going on with this team right now. A week after Tennessee took a 31-0 lead in the Swamp, only for Heupel to go ultra-conservative and get shut out in the second half, his offense fell flat again after halftime tonight in an alarming trend for his teams in big games this year.
The Vols went three-and-out on their first drive in the third quarter, which allowed Vanderbilt to take a two-score lead. Heupel also went conservative in the fourth quarter, kicking a field goal on 4th-and-3 at the Commodores' 7-yard line in a two-score game when it was clear his defense couldn't stop Pavia. Between that and his loyalty to defensive play-caller Tim Banks, this is another loss that falls squarely on Heupel's shoulders. Given the uncertainty at quarterback in 2026 and how difficult the Volunteers schedule is, Heupel's inability to win a single big game this year could put him in a difficult spot next season.
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