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Confident QB Diego Pavia takes shots at the Big Ten, questions Michigan's ability to win games

Originally posted on Michigan Wolverines on SI
By Trent Knoop | Last updated Jun 18, 2025 10:41 AM ET

Despite a 6-6 season and finishing 12th in the SEC, averaging 176 yards per game through the air, Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia is taking some major shots. Appearing on 'Bussin' With The Boys', the Vanderbilt QB shared he turned down a $4 million NIL offer from an unnamed SEC team to return to play for the Commodores in 2025.

Pavia became a household name around the country following a 40-35 win over Alabama last season, when the Tide were ranked No. 1 in the country. Vandy also took Texas to the wire, but lost the game. They would then go on to lose their last three games of the season to finish 6-6. Despite being a subpar team, Pavia told Taylor Lewan and Will Compton that he would 'ignore' calls from Big Ten teams -- hyping up the SEC.

"You want to play with the best; you don't want to play with the Big Ten," Pavia said. "You ignore those calls.

"You got to think about this too, the SEC is like nothing (else)," Pavia said. "The Big Ten, you have Ohio State, Oregon, Michigan, Penn State... the SEC you have all dogs. You only have like four games a year (in the Big Ten). The SEC, it's like week after week you're going to get beat on.

"The Big Ten, you ain't going to get beat on with like the Purdue, Nebraskas."

But that was just the start. He then took aim at Lewan's alma mater, Michigan. He told Lewan a team like Michigan should win more than it does after seeing the Wolverines pay Bryce Underwood the reported $9-12 million in NIL.

“Michigan’s a great school, but they should be winning more than they are with the cap that they got,” Pavia said. “Like, Dave Portnoy donates to Michigan. I know their NIL is through the roof. Should you not win?”

Of course, Lewan combated the veteran QB, reminding him that Michigan won the national title during the 2023 season.

“We won seven games last year with throwing turned off,” Lewan said. “If you’re if you’re talking about, ‘Hey, there’s multiple phases to an offense.’ You’re going to take off probably like 50% of an offense and still win seven games and just knock down, drag them out three yards in a cloud of dust.

“Tough year. We win the national championship. You must’ve forgot about that in 2024 and then we go into this past year. Yeah, we had some difficulties at quarterback. Not gonna come at the boys at all. We had a hard time tossing the ball over the yard. It was bad. It was not great. Now we got this cat, Bryce Underwood.”

Pavia admitted he expected big things from the No. 1 ranked prospect in the 2025 class. But the ironic part of Pavia's point, he wouldn't have fared any better in the Big Ten. His 176.4 yards per game would have slotted him at No. 12 in the Big Ten last season.

You can see the full interview below.