Even on a bye week, with no chance to stumble and every reason to climb, Diego Pavia and Vanderbilt didn’t get a second of rest from ESPN’s skepticism. Despite an 8-2 start and their best SEC surge in over a decade, ESPN isn’t buying into Diego Pavia’s team’s success. The Commodores were completely left out of ESPN’s newest playoff projections.

Ohio State, Indiana, Texas A&M, Georgia, and Alabama are expected in the top 10, boosting more than 80% chances of making it to the finals. But Vanderbilt was nowhere to be found. Even Texas, sitting on three losses, entered with a 19.9% chance. Vanderbilt? Left off entirely, despite having the same record as Alabama.

With only Kentucky and Tennessee left on the schedule, Vanderbilt’s playoff fate will be decided by what happens in Lexington this weekend. But why is ESPN not sold yet? The biggest hole in Vanderbilt’s record is that they don’t have a single win over a team currently ranked in the Top 25. That’s why, despite jumping ahead of Texas in the AP Poll, the Commodores remain behind teams like Oklahoma and Alabama in the playoff race. Oklahoma’s win over the Tide last week kept both programs out of reach for now.

To crash the 12-team playoff bracket, Vanderbilt must finish 10-2 and leapfrog both Oklahoma and Utah in the CFP rankings. That’s only possible if Utah and BYU come up short in their upcoming games. But their remaining games are easier than Vanderbilt’s, as BYU plays Cincinnati and UCF, but their loss of Texas Tech in the Big 12 title game might give Vanderbilt an edge. Same with Utah, who’s going against Kansas State and Kansas.

Vanderbilt needs wins and help. Their bye week did them no favors. Commodore fans were hoping for upsets. Pitt over Notre Dame, Alabama over Oklahoma, and Georgia over Texas to open up the playoff lane. But it didn’t materialize the way they wanted. Now, the only path left is straightforward. Beat Kentucky. Beat Tennessee. Or let the dream die.

With that, there’s another scare waiting for Vanderbilt.

Diego Pavia’s team gets another concerning news

Clark Lea quickly became one of the hottest names in college football this season. After Vanderbilt’s national rise, he is also grabbing attention from other teams eagerly looking for a coach to rebuild their program. One such name is Auburn’s Tigers, who are now looking out for him.

Well, the attention makes sense, as Clark Lea is the one who led Vanderbilt to two back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2012-2013. With that, they are also in the playoff contention this year, which shows their ability to build stability and momentum, taking over one of the hardest jobs in the SEC. With that success, he joined Eli Drinkwitz on Auburn’s coaching search list.

Even Nick Saban made a somewhat similar admission during Vandy’s game against Missouri. “I don’t want to make anybody mad here, but they’d better do something to keep Clark Lea here, because he’s going to go someplace,” he said.

But then let’s not forget that all this success squarely relies on Diego Pavia’s success and his excellence, so after his move, it’s yet to be seen how Vanderbilt will perform next season. As college sports have already seen, Colorado is failing to meet expectations after Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter’s move to the NFL. For now, even Lea has not shown any interest in making a move, but let’s wait and see if that’s in the cards for him in the near future.