While Vanderbilt football's Diego Pavia has already made an impression on possible NIL deals after recent success, he has made another request, this time to EA Sports, the developer of the latest college football video game. Even receiving the praise of former college football great Johnny Manziel to the Vanderbilt football star, he's asking for a ratings boost from a 79 overall and “drip” as posted on his X, formerly Twitter, page.

There is no doubt that Pavia and the Commodores have been receiving more eyes on their program especially after Vanderbilt football upset the Alabama Crimson Tide. They kept up the success last Saturday as they defeated the Kentucky Wildcats in another upset. Vanderbilt's football team was 14-point underdogs.

Pavia threw for 143 yards to go along with two touchdowns and one interception. He spoke with the SEC Network on the grit and resiliency of his team to have back-to-back weeks of major success, according to On3 Sports.

“I’ll tell you one thing. You know, we’re hard hat lunch pail now. Vanderbilt’s a team you’ve gotta lookout for. Coach Lea’s been trying to do this since he got here. Just needed that little switch. You’ve guys have seen the character of these guys. I mean, they want to win more than anything. They hate losing. But you know, shout out to the defense,” Pavia said.

“For us to win with only 20 points on the scoreboard. That’s huge man. The defense showed out tonight. O-line, we ran the ball. I did nothing tonight. To be honest. From those other games. I didn’t do nothing,” Pavia continued.

Vanderbilt football's Diego Pavia on following after the Alabama upset

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Pavia would downplay any notion that after beating the Crimson Tide the week before, that the team would slip away from what's working coming off that high. However, he would say that the game plan by Commodores head coach Clark Lea would not allow that as he would also credit the offensive line.

“That ain’t us. That ain’t us. Coach Lea has a specific script for us to follow. Coach Kill’s hard on us and it. Up front, Coach K [Klenakis]. He doesn’t let the unit slip at all. They’re in there before anyone, the o-line. I get in there and the o-line is in there. So, shoutout to them. They’re leading the way..” Pavia said.

Pavia would suffer a knee injury which will be monitored, but his head coach would talk about his toughness.

“Short of amputation, I think that dude’s playing,” Clark Lea said. “He’s tough. I’m not sure of the specific [injury]. He got his knee banged up. They just wanted to check it out. He was fine. He’s going to get banged up. This is a tough stretch. So, he’s a fun player to have on our team. He fights every night. He’s got the chip on the shoulder that defines our program, and he’s going to be okay.”

The Commodores are now 4-2 and 2-1 in conference play as they look to make it three straight wins against the Ball State Cardinals next Saturday.