Love him or loathe him, Diego Pavia has our attention

When I began crafting this week’s Peerman Power Rankings — the top five things in New Mexico sports — I knew Diego Pavia would be No. 1. Because there’s so much to write about Pavia — a New Mexican who is on top of the sports world — it became clear the Vanderbilt quarterback would not only be No. 1, but he would be the only one in the power rankings.

PPR, in its original form, will return next week.

The story every sports personality in America is talking about is Vanderbilt’s historic 40-35 upset win over No. 1 Alabama on Saturday in Nashville, Tenn. The Commodores — a perennial SEC bottom-feeder in college football — last beat Alabama in 1984, when “Beverly Hills Cop” was the highest grossing film and Prince’s “When Doves Cry” topped Billboard’s Hot 100. The last time Vanderbilt beat a No. 1-ranked team? Never.

How unlikely was the result? Had you bet $100 on the Commodores to win, you’d have $1,180 to reinvest on Vandy winning the national championship (A bit of betting advice: Don’t do that). Still, the Commodores’ fans cashed in their good fortune by not just flooding the field at FirstBank Stadium, but also tearing down a goal post and carrying it three miles to dump in the Cumberland River. Act like you’ve been there before? The fans hadn’t! We’ll allow this act of civil disobedience, but just once.

In the immediate aftermath of Vanderbilt’s improbable rolling of the Tide, national TV crews rushed to interview the team’s quarterback, Pavia, a graduate transfer from New Mexico State who plays with a chip on his shoulder the size of a Santa Fe Grill Breakfast Dream burrito (for those unfamiliar, the hearty Breakfast Dream, if placed on a shoulder, would be heavy enough to cause an undeniable swagger in your step).

Diego, you just beat the number one team in the country. What’s going through your mind right now?

The excitable, emotional Pavia answers the question from the TV on-the-field journalist by first thanking God for laying a template and path, thanks God for tight end Eli Stowers (another NMSU transfer who led Vanderbilt in catches and receiving yards in the Alabama game) and then acknowledges the mob of black-and-gold-clad students rushing the field before shouting into the hot mic, “Look at this. Vandy, we’re f***ing turnt!”

Diego, what were you saying to your team to finish this game?

“Sh*t. Games like this change your life,” he states, addressing hype and NIL money and how the two, for better and for worse, are intertwined.

You had 70 family members here. What did it mean to do this in front of them?

“Where they at? Where’s the family? Where’s the family?” As Pavia supporters come into frame, jumping and shouting, the on-the-field journalist disappears behind them and the broadcast cuts away.

ESPN calls it an “electric postgame interview.”

Pavia embodies New Mexico: faith, family, unfiltered. Like the state, he’s often overlooked. Like the state, when outsiders do get a look, they breathlessly ask, “Whoa! Why aren’t people talking about this more?” Like the state, when outsiders look deeper, they callously ask, “Whoa! Why aren’t people talking about this more?”

So, let’s talk about this.

Pavia, a state champion wrestler and more-than-capable high school quarterback, first at St. Pius X then at Volcano Vista, went the junior college route after neither UNM nor NMSU, nor any other Division I school, offered him a football scholarship. He led New Mexico Military Institute to the 2021 NJCAA national title.

NMSU, which was in a rebuild under first-year coach Jerry Kill and offensive coordinator Tim Beck, and in desperate need of players — any players, after former head coach Doug Martin all but abandoned recruiting in his final year — gave the 5-foot-10 quarterback a shot in 2022. So what if Pavia was often the shortest guy on the field? He was a decent passer, an above-average runner for a quarterback and exhibited at least enough leadership qualities to win a junior college national title, right?

It didn’t start off well. Kill and Beck platooned quarterbacks Pavia and Gavin Frakes the first seven games of the season and the team stumbled to a 2-5 record. Pavia played in six of those games, completing 40 percent of his 79 passes for an average of 53 passing yards a game and threw four picks with no touchdowns. Pavia finally had a decent game in a 23-13 Aggie win at UMass in Week 9, kick-starting an amazing mid-season turnaround. As the Aggies’ primary option under center the team’s final six games, Pavia completed 62 percent of his 111 passes for an average of 188 passing yards a game and threw 13 touchdowns against two picks. The team finished 5-1, including a 24-19 victory over Bowling Green in the Quick Lane Bowl (Pavia was MVP).

What did Kill, Beck and Pavia do for an encore in 2023? They led the Aggies to their first 10-win season in more than 60 years, and also the team’s first ever victory over an SEC program, a 31-10 win at Auburn. Pavia, the quarterback no one wanted coming out of high school, found his groove and would end up being named Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year before leading the Aggies onto the field for their first-ever appearance in the New Mexico Bowl.

But this was a memorable season for other reasons, too. The day after the Aggies hung on for a 27-17 victory over rival New Mexico, a video surfaced of Pavia urinating on the UNM indoor football practice facility, ostensibly out of spite for his hometown team not offering him a scholarship out of high school — or junior college. Pavia became Public Enemy No. 1 in Loboland.

A week before the New Mexico Bowl, Beck announced he would be leaving NMSU for the OC job at Vanderbilt. A week after the Aggies’ 37-10 loss to Fresno State in the bowl, Kill announced he was resigning from his job and would later accept an off-the-field role as consultant to Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea. In the ensuing months, Pavia, Stowers and a few other Aggies announced they, too, would be getting transfer slips to make the 1,343-mile trip from Las Cruces to Vanderbilt.

Going into the 2024 season, NMSU East (Vandy) was predicted to finish last in the 16-team SEC. Six weeks in, the Commodores are 3-2, with close losses to Georgia State and then No. 6-ranked Missouri the only blemishes. Pavia and Beck have Vandy’s offense rolling, ranking fifth in points per game (37.6) in the conference. After beating Alabama, Vanderbilt received 22 points in the AP Top 25 poll. The last time the Commodores were ranked (2008), Walter White was still teaching chemistry at the fictional J.P. Wynne High.

But back to Pavia. He now has a junior college national championship, an Iron Bowl championship (wins over both Auburn and No. 1 Alabama), a 10-win season and a Bowl game MVP on his résumé. He’s in the conversation for best college football player from New Mexico, ever.

But will he be recognized as such? To some Lobo fans, he’s the guy who Calvin’d (think bumper sticker) their team. To some Aggie fans, he’s the guy who bolted when times got tough.

I’m a Las Cruces native and NMSU alum now living in Albuquerque and primarily covering UNM sports, and I’m fascinated by fans’ reactions toward Pavia following Vandy’s big win. Some people in my life who are New Mexicans through and through want our publication to lift up this native son, while others have nothing positive to say about someone they say “wronged” their team.

When I am in other parts of the country and people find out I’m from New Mexico, without fail the topic of conversation turns to “Breaking Bad.” It’s undeniably one of the greatest TV shows of all time. Some people in my life who are New Mexicans through and through happily claim this show as “ours,” while others have nothing positive to say about a narrative they say puts the state in a bad light.

Pavia is somewhat of an antihero himself, both loved and loathed — which, certainly, is how most New Mexicans feel about the Land of Enchantment. We both cherish and condemn it on the daily. Thus, I would argue, is evidence that Diego Pavia is New Mexican through and through. And that’s worth celebrating.