As the Vanderbilt Commodores go on the road to face off against the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa this game is becoming a massive storyline. After knocking off the top ranked Crimson Tide at home last season, Diego Pavia and his teammates have a chance to go on the road and stun the world once again.
While Alabama was the Nation's top ranked team last season the challenge of knocking off Alabama this season is much harder. Pavia and Company have to go on the road to Bryant-Denny Stadium and they won’t be the scrappy underdog that Alabama overlooked last year.
Diego Pavia's new bond with Johnny Manziel is a distraction
This week as the game against Alabama approaches, all of the talk hasn't been about the team but, it's centered around Diego Pavia and his new bromance with Johnny Manziel. The story started earlier in the week when Johnny Manziel revealed he went to dinner with Pavia and that he'd be on the Commodores sideline.
Johnny Manziel will be on Vanderbilt’s sideline for the Alabama game pic.twitter.com/HFB7lEZxFP
— The Dore Report (@TheDoreReport) September 29, 2025
The story has only continued from that point as Chris Low of On3 interviewed Johnny Manziel and the former Aggies star revealed that he's "mentoring" Diego Pavia.
"I’m like, ‘Learn from my mistakes, brother. Learn from Johnny. Don’t be Johnny off the field. I beat them once. Diego’s got a chance to beat them twice. That’s the kind of s--t they build statues for."Johnny Manziel
While the story is great and certainly plays up the part of Pavia being the villain, it's making the game all about Pavia rather than his teammates. The part of admitting that this is a mentor-mentee relationship almost seems bizarre in many ways.
The only thing that ties the two togethers is their shared cockiness and swagger along with the fact they've both beaten Alabama. As far as the public knows, Pavia hasn't come close to being Manziel off the field and even on the field the two aren't so similar.
If the lesson from Manziel was to not be so cocky, Pavia certainly didn't listen as he said the following to Low in the same interview:
"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"Diego Pavia
Diego Pavia became one of the most beloved figures in College Football under the radar by doing things his own way. This new partnership or friendship with Manziel feels so forced and over the top that it's almost destined to backfire.
This weekend, Diego Pavia is going to get Alabama's best shot as they have to respect the Commodores ability to pull off the upset. The past few months it's felt like Pavia keeps poking the bear and more likely than not, Alabama's going to end up putting him right back in his place this weekend.
More Vanderbilt Commodores News: