Vanderbilt celebrated a historic achievement by securing its first-ever victory over a No. 1 ranked team, beating Alabama in a close 40-35 match.
In an unexpected turn of events, Alabama, which recently triumphed over No. 2 Georgia, found itself on the losing end just one week later against Vanderbilt, a team that had only managed two SEC wins since the end of the 2019 season.
This stunning upset reverberated throughout the college football landscape, highlighting several noteworthy statistics:
Vanderbilt’s win marked several milestones for the program, including its first victory over a top-ranked team and the first time the Commodores scored over 40 points against a top-five opponent.
Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia emerged as a key player in this upset. He entered the game tied with two other quarterbacks for the most wins in games where their team was a 21-plus point underdog. With this latest win, Pavia has now achieved three such victories, having previously accomplished this while at New Mexico State.
This loss for Alabama also put it in a rare category, as it became the fourth No. 1 team in the history of the AP poll to lose to an unranked opponent just a week after defeating a top-2 ranked team. The last instance occurred in 1960 when Minnesota lost to Purdue.
Historically, Vanderbilt had struggled against Alabama, scoring only 13 points in four previous games during Nick Saban’s coaching tenure. In contrast, the Commodores amassed 13 points in the first quarter of this latest game alone.
Before this upset, Alabama had a 23-game winning streak against Vanderbilt, a run that began in 1984, with the last nail-biting matchup not decided by a single score since 2006.
Vanderbilt’s loss record against top-5 teams stood at 60 prior to this matchup, representing the longest such losing streak in the AP poll era, which started in 1936.
Pavia completed an impressive 16 of 20 passes for 252 yards and two touchdowns, achieving an 80% completion rate, the highest for any opposing quarterback against Alabama since 2010.