On a wet and cloudy day in Protective Stadium, the Vanderbilt Commodores (7-6) took on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (7-6) with the Birmingham Bowl trophy — and a cowbell — on the line.

In a gritty and, at times, heated battle in the rain, Vanderbilt rode the wave of a five-touchdown performance from quarterback Diego Pavia and a second-half defensive masterclass to defeat Georgia Tech 35-27. The win secured its first bowl victory for Vanderbilt since 2013 and was the Commodores’ first time beating the Yellow Jackets since 1941. Head coach Clark Lea reflected on the significance of Vanderbilt’s resurgence and the accomplishments the Commodores have earned.

This is my school, it’s my home, it’s where I played,” Lea said. “So I’m proud of the fight that this program has shown, the staff that stayed with us, [and] the people that have stayed and believed in what we’re doing.”

First quarter 

Vanderbilt won the opening coin toss and elected to defer, putting the Yellow Jackets’ offense on the field first. The Commodores forced a three-and-out almost immediately, forcing an incompletion and a 4-yard run from Jamal Haynes before linebacker Nick Rinaldi chased down a scrambling Haynes King for a sack on third down. 

Starting from its 35-yard line after the punt, Vanderbilt looked to capitalize on its defense’s early momentum. The Commodores began simply, tossing a motion screen to Junior Sherill for seven yards, following it up with a signature blasting of Sedrick Alexander between the tackles for a first down. Georgia Tech responded, holding Vanderbilt to two minimal gains on the ground and forcing a third-and-seven. Pavia — feeling the pressure from the Yellow Jackets — threw a pass that rifled into the dirt, bringing the first drive to an end after five plays.

Georgia Tech quickly went to work again. On its first play, Haynes sped around the Vanderbilt defense for a 15-yard gain. He received the ball again on the very next play but was immediately swarmed by Commodores. A rollout throw to the sideline and a quarterback sneak kept the drive going, but a short gain from Haynes, a screen that was blown up by Bryan Longwell and a third-down incompletion gave possession right back to Vanderbilt. 

Backed up on its 13-yard line, Vanderbilt started its second drive with a deep shot. Pavia dropped back and launched a perfect ball to first-year Barrett Boski, who couldn’t haul it in as it bounced off his fingertips. Still, a Pavia keeper and a quick dump off to Alexander moved the chains.

Pavia’s magic started to show after that. First, he darted up the middle of a collapsing pocket, racing to the sideline for a gain of 16. After a 4-yard gain from Moni Jones, Pavia froze the defense on a play-action fake and found Loic Fouonji down the right sideline for a massive 40-yard gain. Georgia Tech succumbed to the play action again just two downs later as Vanderbilt earned its first score on a Pavia jump pass to Cole Spence in the back of the endzone.

Georgia Tech got to work quickly in response, starting off with a swift pass to Jackson Hawes. Haynes — the Yellow Jackets’ 2024 leading rusher — then took off for rushes of 17 and 11 yards, respectively. This brought Georgia Tech into Vanderbilt territory. Two inconsequential plays set up third-and-nine when Georgia Tech only mustered seven yards on a Bailey Stockton jet sweep, closing the quarter with a big decision coming up for head coach Brent Key. 

Second quarter

Instead of an expected downhill rush, King threw a quick screen to Malik Rutherford on fourth down as the wideout launched himself forward to barely pick up a first down. A subsequent holding penalty pulled Georgia Tech back to first-and-15. Eventually, the Yellow Jackets drove right into the red zone on a Haynes reception and a Chad Alexander rush for a combined 16 yards. Continuing the successful short passing game, King found Abdul Janneh Jr. on a drag for 10 more yards, giving Georgia Tech its first opportunity inside Vanderbilt’s 10-yard line. Similar to Vanderbilt’s earlier play, after two more runs, Georgia Tech would find the endzone off a play-action fake up the middle and a dump-off to tight end Ryland Goede. The Geode touchdown capped off a 15-play, 75-yard drive that took 7:20 off the clock.

Pavia and Co. came out firing with the game tied at seven apiece. Passes on first down to Eli Stowers and third down to Spence moved the sticks. Vanderbilt gained another first down after two more plays, this time an Alexander run off the tackle and a Sherill jet sweep getting the job done. Yet, Georgia Tech held strong, pushing Vanderbilt into a 3rd and long after shutting down an Alexander run and forcing an incompletion with a dual-linebacker and safety blitz through the A-gap. 

However, Pavia refused to be denied, escaping the pressure and taking a hard hit on the end of a 10-yard gain to move the chains. Digging into its bag of tricks after a facemask advanced the Commodores further, Vanderbilt ran a handoff and end around reverse to Quincy Skinner Jr., taking the ball for 22 yards and earning “boo”s from the Georgia Tech fanbase. Pavia also clipped defensive end Joshua Robinson with a low block on the same play, causing him to exit the game momentarily. 

Riled up by the crowd, the Yellow Jackets dug in, ganging up on Alexander on the next play to force a three-yard loss. Vanderbilt regained its lost yardage on the subsequent play as Pavia flipped through his progressions and found Spence for a gain of five. Coming out of a timeout, Pavia completed his fourth pass of the drive to Stowers, ending up shy of the first down marker. Lea ultimately kept his offense on the field for fourth down from Georgia Tech’s two-yard line. Lining up in the I-Formation, Pavia faked a handoff to Alexander and rolled out, looking for fullback Gabe Fisher. With no one open, he elected to tuck it and run, walking in for a touchdown and capping off a 14-play, 81-yard drive. 

Knowing Vanderbilt would receive the second-half kickoff, the Yellow Jackets cranked up the tempo to no-huddle, racing to get down the field. Three completions for King, a short run from Haynes and a rapid quarterback sneak brought Georgia Tech to its own 49-yard line with 35 seconds to go. A defensive holding and an ensuing unsportsmanlike contact — both on Kolbey Taylor — and an offsides penalty on the Commodores brought Georgia Tech to Vanderbilt’s 21-yard line in nine seconds. 

The reeling Commodores regained their footing, causing Key to burn his final two timeouts after Miles Capers stuffed a designed draw supplemented by Rinaldi’s second sack on the ensuing play. Driven away from the red zone, Georgia Tech settled for a 43-yard field goal, bringing the score to 14-10 in Vanderbilt’s favor going into halftime.

Third quarter

Starting the second half with the football, Vanderbilt picked up from where it left off. Pavia unloaded a pass to his right for Alexander, following it up with a six-yard scamper for a first down. Yet, Vanderbilt was stifled by an intentional grounding. A Pavia incompletion — after being pushed out of the pocket on third down — brought the drive to a close as the punting unit took the field. 

After a well-returned punt by Stockton to Georgia Tech’s 38-yard line, the Commodores’ defense began to unravel. Instead of doing damage on the ground, King followed up two short runs with two 20-yard tosses, entering the red zone easily. King’s third completion of the drive and an Alexander dash behind his blockers led to a critical third-and-one. Still, Vanderbilt shored up and forced a King fumble as he dropped back in the pocket. While it was recovered by one of the Yellow Jackets’ offensive linemen, it was nowhere near a first down, leading to another field goal to cut the lead to one. 

Vanderbilt, unable to get anything going on the ground, quickly found itself back at third and long, backed up within its twenty-yard line. Pavia, rolling out, threw a dart to Sherill for a reception right on the sideline for a first down, but the Commodores were back in the same situation within two more plays. Although Pavia got a good look on third down, he failed to connect with Fouonji on a dig route.

On the ensuing punt, Georgia Tech’s punt returner, Zachary Tobe, was blasted to the ground by Vanderbilt’s Joseph McVay, the ball careening to the two-yard line. A flag was thrown, but upon the referees’ reflection, it was decided that McVay was pushed into the returner, and the flag was picked up.

Now fully backed up, Georgia Tech went three and out. A King rush after a fake jet handoff and pitch were stuffed by De’Marion Thomas and Langston Patterson, halting the Yellow Jackets on third and short. David Shanahan boomed a 53-yard punt, and Martel Hight returned it — spinning from one defender and hurdling over fallen bodies before taking an enormous hit on the sideline — setting Vanderbilt up in prime position at its 44-yard line.

Vanderbilt, facing a potential three-and-out of its own, caught a lucky break as Alexander was interfered with by Trenilyas Tatum for an automatic first down. Bad turned into worse, though, as Key was then given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, adding on another 15 and placing Vanderbilt deep into Georgia Tech territory. On the very next play, Ahmari Harvey was called for a holding penalty in coverage, another gift that put the Commodores at the eight-yard line. Harvey then got into a shoving match with Sherill on the backside of a Pavia rush, resulting in offsetting unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on both players and fellow Yellow Jacket Tobe. 

With the dust settled, Vanderbilt continued its charge forward. Pavia faked a handoff and followed Alexander through the gap for five yards, dragging a defender with him. Lining up in the shotgun, Pavia snapped a pass to Stowers in the flat, the tight end backpedaling across the goal line to stretch the Commodores’ lead to 21-13. 

PAVIA TO STOWERS pic.twitter.com/fvQvUOV5FE

— Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) December 27, 2024

In a significant swing of momentum, CJ Taylor picked off King’s first pass attempt of the next drive as the safety jumped the route and returned it to the 11-yard line. Eager to capitalize on the chance to go up by two scores, Pavia took off to the left for four yards. He was nabbed with unsportsmanlike conduct for tossing the ball in the stands after he ran out of bounds. However, he made up for the penalty by scrambling up the middle for 15 yards. The signal caller careened around numerous Yellow Jackets to get upfield, closing out a scrappy third quarter positively.

Fourth quarter

In backbreaking fashion for the Yellow Jackets, Pavia opened the final quarter of play by connecting with Skinner Jr. in the back corner of the endzone for his third passing touchdown of the game. The touchdown brought the score to 28-13 and placed Georgia Tech in a two-possession hole.

Nevertheless, Georgia Tech was relentless, and Haynes did damage again, blitzing past defenders for a 24-yard gain and then another six-yard run to get close to midfield. The rushing attack continued with Rutherford getting the ball next and juking out Vanderbilt defenders, finding a hole to cut back across the field. That was until Capers chased him down and punched the ball out of his hands from behind for a fumble, ultimately recovered by Vanderbilt defensive lineman Aeneas DiCosmo. 

With the ball back and a 15-point lead, Vanderbilt returned to its traditional clock-bleeding offense. After an Alexander rush for two, Pavia put on the jets on a read option, rushing for 13 before sliding down in bounds. Two plays later, Alexander bulldozed himself into a pile of Yellow Jackets; his progress halted until a swarm of Commodores pushed him forward, the scrum picking up yet another first down. Then, with Georgia Tech focused on the ground game, Pavia dropped back and found his favorite target, Stowers, one-on-one with Burrell in coverage, Stowers pinning it to his body with Burrell draped over him for 39 big yards. Finally, in what felt like a dagger, Pavia took a quarterback keeper straight up the middle, barreling over a defender for his second rushing touchdown of the game — and fifth overall. 

As the clock reached the nine-minute mark, Georgia Tech had a lot of ground to cover and not much time to do so. Moving with urgency, King led his team down the field, completing his first three passes for a collective 27 yards. Closing in on midfield, Vanderbilt clamped down as it cornered the Yellow Jackets into a fourth-and-fifteen. King then took off on a desperate rush for the first down marker, falling short of the first down. He took a crushing hit to his back by Taylor that was flagged for a personal foul, leading to an automatic first down. 

After a lengthy lightning delay, Georgia Tech came out swinging as Haynes promptly rushed for 28 yards and was pushed out of bounds at the one-yard line. Even after a false start and a sack backed the Yellow Jackets up, Haynes received a nine-yard touchdown pass to return the Vanderbilt lead to 15.

A three-and-out from Vanderbilt and an intentional delay of game penalty on fourth down returned the ball to Georgia Tech, down two scores with 4:06 remaining. Even though the Yellow Jackets mustered a well-executed drive capped off by a two-yard touchdown reception from Stockton, it was too little, too late. Vanderbilt recovered an onside kick attempt and took home a 35-27 win.

With the victory, Vanderbilt finished the season above .500 for the first time since 2013 and won its first bowl game under Lea’s regime. The win broke a three-game losing streak and gave the Commodores a quality finishing touch on a surprising season.