Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Vanderbilt football pulled off the biggest upset in the history of the program last season with a stunning victory over Alabama at the start of October. There’s little doubt the Crimson Tide are intent on getting revenge this year, and Commodores QB Diego Pavia sent a message their way after Ryan Williams issued a promise ahead of that showdown.
Vanderbilt has been a member of the SEC since joining as a charter member in the 1930s, but the university has historically been one of the conference’s biggest afterthoughts as far as football is concerned.
It seemed safe to assume a top-ranked Alabama squad wasn’t going to have much trouble against the Commodores when they headed up to Nashville last season to take on a 2-2 Vanderbilt team that was in the midst of a two-game skid in the wake of losses to Georgia State and Missouri.
That was especially true when you consider the Crimson Tide hadn’t lost to Vanderbilt since 1984 and were riding a 23-game winning streak against a team that had lost all 60 of the games it had played against an opponent ranked in the top five.
However, we were treated to a surprisingly hard-fought battle that ultimately ended with Vandy earning a 40-35 win in front of a home crowd that got its money’s worth with the celebration that cost the school $100,000 by rushing the field before depositing one of the goal posts in the Cumberland River after parading it down Broadway.
Alabama WR Ryan Williams recently got the chance to reflect on the loss while chatting with Jon Gruden and didn’t mince words while saying how he thinks things are going to unfold when the two teams meet in Tuscaloosa on October 4th, saying “we’re gonna kill an ant with a sledgehammer this year.”
Alabama’s loss to Vanderbilt last season SHOCKED college football, and I got to ask Ryan Williams how Alabama dealt with that and how they will respond this season! pic.twitter.com/n4PtzgIAt8
— Jon Gruden (@BarstoolGruden) June 2, 2025
Those comments quickly came to the attention of Diego Pavia, and the QB who threw for 252 yards and two touchdowns in the upset responded to them in an Instagram Story where he posted a clip from Gucci Mane’s “Made It (Outro),” which features the line “They actin’ like they tough but don’t want no confrontation.”
So it begins.