CFP Committee Explains Controversial Notre Dame-Alabama Decision<\/a><\/p>\nOn Sunday, Pavia took to X to apologize for his reaction to losing out on the Heisman Trophy.<\/p>\n
“Being a part of the Heisman ceremony last night as a finalist was such an honor,” Pavia wrote. “As a competitor, just like in everything I do I wanted to win. To be so close to my dream and come up short was painful. I didn\u2019t handle those emotions well at all and did not represent myself the way I wanted to. <\/p>\n
“I have much love and respect for the Heisman voters and the selection process, and I apologize for being disrespectful. It was a mistake, and I am sorry.”<\/p>\n
Pavia finished the regular season with 3,192 yards passing, 27 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He added 826 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground.<\/p>\n
Pavia explained that he had a chip on his shoulder before being named a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019ve been doubted my whole life,” Pavia said. “Every step of my journey I\u2019ve had to break down doors and fight for myself, because Ive learned that nothing would be handed to me. My family has always been in my corner, and my teammates, coaches and staff have my six. I love them \u2014 I am grateful for them. \u2014 and I wouldn\u2019t want anything to distract from that. <\/p>\n
“I look forward to competing in front of my family and with my team one more time in the ReliaQuest Bowl.”<\/p>\n
Pavia praised Mendoza for having an incredible season with Indiana.<\/p>\n
“Fernando Mendoza is an elite competitor and a deserving winner of the award,” Pavia wrote. “I have nothing but respect for his accomplishments as well as the success that Jeremiyah and Julian had this season.”<\/p>\n
No. 14 Vandy will next play No. 23 Iowa in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Dec. 31.<\/p>\n
For more on the NCAA, head to Newsweek Sports.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia had a special season, but came up just short in the Heisman Trophy vote.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[331,90043,7,10341,49,48,7205,28752],"class_list":{"0":"post-602219","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-college-football","9":"tag-deigo-pavia","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-heisman-trophy","12":"tag-ncaa","13":"tag-ncaa-football","14":"tag-vanderbilt-commodores","15":"tag-vanderbilt-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115722812362198796","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Heisman](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2251779042.jpeg\"\/)
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