Diego Pavia reveals mindset Vanderbilt carried into Alabama game

The college football world has relived Vanderbilt‘s historic upset victory over top-ranked Alabama since it happened last weekend.

Many have dissected the game to find exactly what went wrong for the Crimson Tide in Nashville in Week 6. The conclusion many have drawn is the leadership of quarterback Diego Pavia, who after the game revealed a bit of where his mind was at ahead of kickoff that led to such a memorable moment.

“To be honest, on Tuesday, Big Glo [offensive lineman Steven Hubbard] walked in and said — some people were talking to him,” Pavia told reporters directly after the Alabama win. “He said, ‘If it ain’t about beating ‘Bama then get the *** out the way. I ain’t trying to talk to you right now.’ And that was just what every single lineman, got behind and just had the same mentality. And that’s just it. If it ain’t beating ‘Bama, get out of the way.

“He told me once or twice. I was trying to joke with him, and he’s like, ‘Man if it ain’t beating ‘Bama then get the F out the way.’ And I was just like, [let me] step out of the way, you know what I mean? Because I was joking, but that mentality that Big Glo brings is real. He has a whole line on it.”

Getting that type of motivation from the guys protecting him upfront was surely a good feeling for the Vandy quarterback. That type of mentality was all over the Commodores facility last week, Pavia revealed.

“[Vanderbilt’s] coaches have a mentality,” he continued. “If you mess up a little bit in practice, take the wrong step, your hand placement is off, then they’re gonna call you out on it. Those guys set the standard. Like I said, I’m fully with it.”

The Commodores will showcase this mentality once again this weekend on the road against Kentucky. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. ET and will air live on the SEC Network.