The Vanderbilt Commodores defeated the Auburn Tigers on Saturday afternoon in Nashville, needing an overtime period to win a 45-38 barn-burner during DJ Durkin's first game as AU's interim head football coach.
Vanderbilt Commodores On SI's Joey Dwyer believes the win was largely due to VU quarterback Diego Pavia, who Dwyer claims had his best game in a black and gold uniform. And Hugh Freeze wasn't even there to see it.
"That was perhaps the best game Pavia has played at Vanderbilt," Dwyer prefaced before saying, "The Vanderbilt quarterback went for over 300 yards through the air, over 100 on the ground, didn’t turn it over and answered the call in all the big moments.
"What a performance. What a player."
If Pavia was building his Heisman candidacy and Saturday was a best performance in black and gold, one can say that the win over Auburn was his "Heisman moment." Pavia knew it, too, posing with a kid in the end zone while hitting the Heisman Trophy pose.
Diego Pavia may have just sealed trip to New York for Heisman ceremony
Is Pavia a true candidate to win the Heisman Trophy? It's unclear just yet.
Following their bye week, the Commodores face the Kentucky Wildcats and the Tennessee Volunteers. Split those games, and Pavia is merely a participation trophy appearance at the Heisman Trophy presentation in Manhattan. Win both, and he's got a serious case to win the award.
Actually winning is a different story. Julian Sayin is having a damn-near perfect season for the Ohio State Buckeyes under center while Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza just produced his own Heisman moment in a 27-24 win over the Penn State Nittany Lions in Happy Valley.
Pavia may have just sealed his trip to New York City as a finalist, though. He and Alabama Crimson Tide QB Ty Simpson figure to be the SEC's representatives in the Big Apple, though the actual winner should be one of the undefeated options from the B1G. If, of course, OSU and IU are undefeated by the time December rolls around.