When the Vanderbilt Commodores upset the then-No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide in October 2024, the result was so shocking and monumental that the game has its own Wikipedia page.
One year later, No. 16 Vanderbilt (5-0) and No. 10 Alabama (3-1) will square off once again. And for perhaps the first time this century, the schools will battle not as David and Goliath, but as equals.
“It will be about us,” Commodores head coach Clark Lea said Tuesday about the matchup. “That’s how we see it. We need to go and play our game, not get caught up in the environment. Should be a great atmosphere for college football. Not get caught up in the externals round the game but simply focus on playing good football.”
For decades, Vanderbilt has been arguably the worst team in the Southeastern Conference.
Of schools with at least 100 games played in the SEC, the Commodores have the worst winning percentage, at .382. (Conversely, the Crimson Tide are first, at .756.)
Vanderbilt has never won a conference championship, it has the worst intraconference winning percentage, and only three times has it ever finished in the Top 25 of the final coaches poll of the season.
The Commodores have also never been much of a problem for Alabama.
The Crimson Tide are 63-19-4 against Vanderbilt. From 1970 through 2023, Alabama lost to the Commodores only once. Last year’s upset was the first time Vanderbilt had beaten Alabama since 1984.
On Tuesday, Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer said he wouldn’t argue against the idea his team was overconfident headed into last October’s matchup.
“You’ve got to handle success, and you’ve got to come back every single week in this league. We didn’t handle success last year well,” DeBoer said at a news conference.
The Commodores should have the Crimson’s Tide full attention this time around. They will face off as ranked opponents for the first time since 1937. And despite its lower ranking in the Associated Press poll, Vanderbilt has the better record.
A key factor in the Commodores’ success last season and through five weeks this year is the play of quarterback Diego Pavia.
Pavia, 24, who began his collegiate career at New Mexico Military Institute, Pavia spent two years at NMMI before he transferred to New Mexico State for two more years. He joined Vanderbilt ahead of the 2024 season and became one of the most significant figures in the school’s football history.
Against Alabama last season, Pavia threw for 252 yards and two touchdowns while running for another 56 yards.
Though Pavia will have to play on the road in Tuscaloosa this season, he isn’t lacking for confidence.
“I don’t know what they’re doing. I just focus on us, but I know we’ve got to bring it. That’s for sure,” Pavia told On3’s Chris Low ahead of the game. “The crowd, I think, is going to be a big factor in the game. But we just gotta play within the white lines. If we do that, if we play our game, it won’t be close.”
The pressure won’t be only on Pavia, as this isn’t your older sibling’s Crimson Tide team.
Over 16 seasons from 2008 to 2023, Alabama never lost more than four games, and it played in either a playoff semifinal or the national title game 11 times. In 2024, DeBoer’s Crimson Tide lost four games — the school’s most in a single season since 2007.
Alabama started this season with a defeat to Florida State, a team that most recently lost to an unranked Virginia.
For Lea and the Commodores, Saturday is a chance to prove that last year’s upset wasn’t a fluke and that the Vanderbilt renaissance is real.
“It’s human nature to be skeptical; that’s why I have a deep respect for what we’re doing here. It’s been misunderstood from outside,” Lea said. “I think this season has been about the confidence to dominate, to have a dominant mindset when we take the field. That’s a tangible shift.”
