Diego Pavia on Vanderbilt reaching the SEC Championship: 'The belief is there'

Vanderbilt has never played in the SEC Championship in their football program’s history. Leave it to QB Diego Pavia, though, to bring the confidence that this will be the year that the Commodores will make it to Atlanta.

While at SEC Media Days in Atlanta on Monday, Pavis went in on talking season in discussing why Vandy could make it to the SEC Championship. His three reasons involved their talent, both returning and new, and the belief and manifestation of their team that they can accomplish that this season in Nashville.

“Well, one, we have the talent to do it this year. Two, we return a lot of talent,” noted Pavia.

“And then, three, you want to know the real reason? It’s probably, like, the biggest reason. Eli Stowers and a few of the guys have brought everybody closer to Christ. And so, really, I feel like that’s like, he’s like shielding us to this alley to take us there,” Pavia continued. “So, like, I’ve envisioned it. Like, I’ve had, you know, dreams about it. I wake up, I’m telling some of the guys, like, let’s go throw midnight. MK Young is a transfer from New Mexico State who lives with us now. And so, like, me and him would just be in the room, just talking about it at probably like two, three in the morning on a Saturday night, just getting some work in.”

Vanderbilt has often recently been an afterthought, whether in general or for the postseason, in the SEC. However, that obviously changed last season when the Commodores, led by a new core like with Pavia, went 7-6 overall (.538), which was both their best record and featured their first bowl win since 2013. It still was a .500 regular season but was a significant step up as the seven wins were nearly as many wins as they’d had in their previous three seasons, at 9-27 (.250), under Clark Lea. Who those seven wins came against were also of note with upsets of Virginia Tech in overtime, at Kentucky, at Auburn, over Georgia Tech in the Birmingham Bowl, and of course against No. 1 Alabama.

That said, Vandy is still not projected as too legitimate contender in the SEC. FanDuel has them in a three-way tie for last in the league and second-to-last in their win total. That’s not to mention all the other publications and predictions that again have the Commodores toward the back of the conference coming into kickoff this fall.

Still, if anyone could talk you into Vanderbilt being in Atlanta on December 7th, it would be Pavia. He now says it’s up to him and his team to prove what he’s saying to be true with how they play into getting there.

“The belief is there…Belief is the starting platform for that. And so, we got that,” said Pavia. “We’ve just got to come up and show out.”