The Hokies open the season in the Music City for an ACC-SEC showdown with the oft-demoted Vanderbilt Commodores. Vandy started off ‘23 hot at 2-0, then lost every subsequent game. Yes, most of that was against the SEC, but there were also losses to Wake and UNLV. The Commodores responded by raiding New Mexico State, where they grabbed Jerry Kill, offensive coordinator Tim Beck, starting quarterback Diego Pavia, and a few more coaches and players. Head coach Clark Lea found this love for the Aggies after watching them handily beat Auburn, and apparently he’s more of a “cannonball” than a toe-dipper when it comes to testing new waters.

The Vanderbilt Offense

Though he hasn’t been named the starter, I think it’s a safe bet Pavia gets most or all of the snaps, so maybe the biggest bit of intrigue is that the Commodores didn’t have a spring game, meaning there’s not much to glean about how all of these new pieces are working. Let’s look at New Mexico State last year, when the offense went through Pavia. The Aggies went 10-5 in ’23; some notable games were the thumping of Auburn (at Auburn, no less) and a shootout conference championship loss to Liberty. The calling card of the scheme is receiver movement, both jet and rocket, often creating triple-option calls with a slot receiver coming behind the formation like the A-back in a Flexbone offense like we used to see with Georgia Tech, or even a Wishbone when they load the backfield.

Along with the movement, there are plenty of RPO calls; combined, they put lots of pressure on the second-level defenders to match slots, backs, and tight ends while not leaving wide running lanes.
It doesn’t hurt one bit that Pavia has talent and a creative spark that allowed him to prod weaknesses as they appeared in defenses, and to create good plays out of bad situations. A lot of his biggest throws were contested and in very tight spaces. He had butter fingers a few times and can make some bad reads against full zones, but overall, he’s a good player:

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