After shocking the college football world last season with an upset win over Alabama, Vanderbilt Commodores star quarterback Diego Pavia will look to replicate this magic in their latest matchup with the Crimson Tide on Saturday. But this time around, Pavia will have someone in his corner who knows exactly what it takes to take down Alabama.
Instead of getting to face Alabama at home like they did in last year’s upset win, Vanderbilt will be heading to Bryant-Denny Stadium and play in one of the most difficult environments in all of college sports against an Alabama program that is surely dead set on avenging their loss last season.
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This certainly makes for an incredibly difficult task for Pavia and company. But fortunately, Pavia is set to have former Texas Aggies legend Johnny Manziel in his corner for the game, who famously went into Bryant-Denny Stadium as a freshman in 2012 and upset Alabama.
Not only will Manziel be in attendance of Saturday’s matchup on the Vanderbilt sideline. But he has also served as a mentor to Pavia ahead of the game, giving him some advice as to how he should prepare for the difficult environment he will be entering.
“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— they build statues for,” said Manziel, via Chris Low on On3 Sports.
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It’s hard to find a better mentor heading into a matchup against Alabama than Johnny Manziel. But interestingly, Manziel did also experience what it felt like to be on the losing end of a matchup against Alabama.
The Crimson Tide did ultimately get their revenge against Manziel and Texas A&M after the upset loss in 2012, winning a 49-42 shootout in their 2013 road matchup against Texas A&M.
It will certainly be interesting to see whether history will repeat itself and Alabama will be able to avenge their prior loss to Vanderbilt and Pavia. Or whether Manziel’s advice for Pavia ends up playing a key role in another upset for Vanderbilt.
Either way, Pavia sure seems quite confident in himself and his team going into the matchup, declaring that the game “won’t be close” if Vanderbilt is able to tune out the noise and play their style of game.
