Diego Pavia struck a Heisman pose amid a 24-yard scuttled to the orange-clad checkerboards — taking a two-touchdown lead over the home Vols.
He trotted into the end zone untouched, a theme throughout the Commodores’ 45-24 throttling of Tennessee football.
Utter dominance is the only way to describe the second half from the perspective of the newly crowned 10-win Vanderbilt Commodores. On their home grass stood the Tennessee Vols, dropping a third home game and closing the regular season at 8-4.
The 21-point margin marked Tennessee’s largest home loss to Vanderbilt in the 53-game Neyland Stadium history between the schools. That’s how the Vols wrapped a whirlwind of a 2025 season — one that included one-possession heartbreakers against Georgia and Oklahoma and three-score blunders to Alabama and Vanderbilt.
Tennessee capped the year with eight wins against teams averaging 4.25 victories, while it suffered losses to opponents averaging 10.25 wins. The Vols took care of business in games they should have, and lost to teams that were flat-out better than them.
“Guys competed extremely hard,” head coach Josh Heupel said. “We didn’t always play extremely smart. There’s a play that drastically changes the game and the way that it’s played. So welcome to life and in this league. You got to be on the right side of those things.”
That play came late in the first half: Jalen McMurray’s roughing-the-passer penalty on third down extended Vanderbilt’s drive with 20 seconds remaining. Instead of holding the Commodores to a field goal, Tennessee gave up a touchdown on the next snap, turning a likely 21-17 halftime lead into a 21-all tie.
It set the course for a 24-3 second-half surge. Pavia etched his heroics into the rivalry with 108 passing yards and 111 rushing yards over the final 30. He established himself as a likely candidate for a trip to New York City next month with 433 total yards and a pair of touchdowns in the win over Tennessee.
The Vols allowed 582 total yards to the Commodores, but forced two early turnovers. Ultimately, one side came out of the break ready to play — and one did not. The scoreboard settled the rest.
“I just believe we didn’t earn it tonight,” running back DeSean Bishop said.
The stat sheet backs it up. The Vols ran for minus-six yards in the second half, giving up 176 to Vanderbilt in the same time frame. Tennessee stalled on three of its four second-half drives, two ending in turnovers with another going three-and-out.
Those issues trace back to preparation, a topic that’s hovered for the last three weeks. After the Vols opened sluggishly against New Mexico State, Heupel said there was a day during the week when the offense wasn’t “on edge.”
When the Vols took the field against Florida, those problems appeared to be fixed. Tennessee fired away for 31 first-half points and drained the swamp for the first time since 2003.
Heupel reiterated that the defense has prepared the right way each day for those two weeks, but offensively, the focus may have been in the wrong place.
But after another doozy outing against Vanderbilt, quarterback Joey Aguilar repeated those struggles — where the offense has uncovered inconsistencies.
“Some days, we’re really good at practice. Some days, we’re a little bit slower,” Aguilar said. “I think that carries on to game days. I think what we have to do is attack the week like it’s your last. Some times it could be your last and sometimes it can’t. We’re grateful to keep on going, but I think we just got to attack practice every day more seriously. Not saying that we don’t but there’s an extra level of urgency we can have attacking practice week-by-week.”
Tennessee will only have one more chance to fix it as the Vols await their bowl destiny. The process to cleanse and improve begins immediately.
You got to keep this taste in your mouth, man,” linebacker Jeremiah Telander said. “Freaking sending out the seniors that way is just unacceptable. Every single guy on this team that has more years to play here is going to remember that taste in their mouth.
“We got to get to work starting freaking tomorrow.”
