The Tennessee Volunteers and Vanderbilt Commodores are one of the very few in-state rivalries in the SEC. They have met annually on the football field since 1900. This is a rivalry that truly dates back to the early days of college football. However, this year’s matchup could be a little different thanks to some recent comments from Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia.
Pavia joined Vanderbilt in January 2024. Despite still being fairly new to the program, Pavia wasted very little time joining in the rivalry fun between Vanderbilt and its interstate rival, Tennessee. Pavia was recently featured on an episode of “Bussin’ With The Boys,” where he made an extremely bold statement about the future of college football in the state of Tennessee.
Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia Makes Fierce SEC Statement About College Football In The State of Tennessee
Pavia joined the Commodores on January 18th, 2024. He transferred to Vanderbilt following his two-year stint with the New Mexico State Aggies. In his first season with Vandy, Pavia threw for 2,293 yards and 20 touchdowns while only throwing four interceptions.
This gave Vanderbilt one of its most exciting years of college football for the first time in quite a while. While Pavia played very well, Vanderbilt only went one game over .500, finishing the season with seven wins and six losses. Now, he’s psyching Vanderbilt fans up with comments towards Tennessee.
“Vanderbilt is gonna run Tennessee after this year,” Pavia says on the “Bussin’ With The Boys” podcast. “This is going to be the new staple of college football. It’s going to happen here at Vanderbilt.”
“Vanderbilt is going to run Tennessee after this year. This is going to be the new staple of college football. It’s going to happen here at Vanderbilt.”
— Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia, via @BussinWTB pic.twitter.com/ZVNWH7aR44
— Josh Ward (@Josh_Ward) June 17, 2025
It’s understandable to see why Pavia feels this way. The Commodores are coming off an exciting season, knocking off the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide in the process. However, while Vanderbilt’s 2025 season has much more momentum than usual, they are still widely regarded as the lesser program within the SEC, and even within Tennessee.
This viewpoint is especially true in the eyes of the Volunteers and their fans. Tennessee is currently on a six-game win streak over Vanderbilt. The Volunteers also control the all-time series with a record of 81-33-5 over the Commodores. This makes it quite apparent that college football in the state of Tennessee truly does run through Knoxville.
The two teams will meet this year and renew their annual rivalry on Saturday, November 29th at Neyland Stadium. With Pavia’s recent comments, we can expect some extra fireworks for this game. This could be one of their biggest rivalry games of the season. Kickoff is scheduled for either 3:30 or 4:30 p.m., and a TV network has not been announced yet.
