Know Your Foe: At Vanderbilt, Kentucky football gets another shot at Diego Pavia
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kentucky visits No. 12 Vanderbilt at FirstBank Stadium; kickoff 3:30 p.m. EST.
- Diego Pavia leads Vandy dual-threat offense with 2,440 pass and 613 rush yards.
- Vanderbilt defense totals 23 sacks but pass defense ranks 106th nationally.
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Preview: Kentucky football at No. 12 Vanderbilt
Click below to read more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s preview coverage ahead of Saturday’s Kentucky-Vanderbilt game in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Scouting Kentucky football’s next opponent, the No. 12 Vanderbilt Commodores:
Game details for Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt
Kentucky (5-5, 2-5 SEC) will face Vanderbilt (8-2, 4-2 SEC) on Saturday at FirstBank Stadium (seating capacity of some 35,000) on the campus of Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
The game will kick off at 3:30 p.m. EST Saturday and be carried by ESPN.
Coach Clark Lea’s Commodores had an open date this past Saturday.
Kentucky-Vanderbilt history and trends
Kentucky leads the all-time series with Vanderbilt 48-44-4. From 1896 through 1945, Vandy went 19-1-2 against Kentucky. Since 1946, UK leads the series 47-25-2.
UK coach Mark Stoops is 8-4 vs. Vanderbilt.
Vandy head mad Clark Lea is 2-2 against Kentucky.
Kentucky has won its past four games against Vanderbilt in Nashville; the Commodores have beaten the Wildcats two straight in Lexington.
Kentucky is 1-0 head-to-head vs. Vanderbilt teams ranked in the AP Top 25. In 1947, the Cats upset No. 10 Vandy 14-0.
UK is seeking to extend a streak of five straight seasons with at least one win over a team rated in the AP Top 25.
The No. 12 Commodores will be the fifth ranked opponent the Wildcats have faced this season. Kentucky is 0-4 against ranked foes.
Most recent Kentucky-Vanderbilt football game
Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia completed 15 of 18 passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 53 yards on 14 carries to lead the Commodores to a 20-13 victory over Kentucky on Oct. 13, 2024, at Kroger Field in Lexington.
UK was done in by its own mistakes, as the Wildcats twice had place-kicks go awry after fumbling the long snap and committed a whopping 12 penalties for 106 yards.
Kentucky-Vanderbilt: Three things to know
1. If Vanderbilt had pulled out what became a 34-31 loss at Texas, Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia might be the Heisman Trophy favorite.
As it is, the 6-foot, 207-pound super-senior from Albuquerque, New Mexico, will enter play this week as the fourth favorite in the Heisman race with 20-1 odds, according to BetOnline.Ag.
Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza (1-1 odds), Ohio State’s Julian Sayin (7-4) and Texas A&M’s Marcel Reed (11-2) are the players ahead of the Vandy QB in the Heisman odds this week.
On the season, Pavia is completing 70% of his passes (191 of 273) and has thrown for 2,440 yards with 21 touchdown throws versus five interceptions.
Very much a dual threat, Pavia has run 117 times for 613 yards and seven TDs.
A transfer from New Mexico State, Pavia might have played his best game in Vandy’s 45-38 overtime victory against Auburn two Saturdays ago. With Vanderbilt’s College Football Playoff aspirations hanging in the balance, Pavia threw for 377 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 112 yards and a TD.
2. Vanderbilt is hoping its open week helps put some juice back into the Commodores’ high-pressure defensive style. The Vandy “D” has sacked opposing quarterbacks 23 times. However, in the two most recent games, the Vanderbilt “sack attack” has been largely AWOL.
While giving up 34 points and 428 total yards to Texas, the Commodores did not sack the QB at all.
As Auburn rang up 38 points and 563 total yards, Vandy had only two sacks.
3. Statistically, Vanderbilt’s weakness has been its pass defense. The Commodores are allowing 244.7 yards a game through the air, which ranks 106th out of 134 FBS teams.
Vandy has only four interceptions, which is tied for 109th in the FBS.
It will be interesting whether Cutter Boley, Kentucky’s rapidly developing redshirt freshman QB, can take advantage of the Commodores’ pass defense.
This story was originally published November 17, 2025 at 6:15 AM.
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