Diego Pavia completed 13 of 21 passes for 160 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 84 yards and two scores on the ground, as Vanderbilt posted a 35-27 victory over Georgia Tech in the Birmingham Bowl on Friday.
Eli Stowers caught four passes for 55 yards and a touchdown, as the Commodores (7-6) clinched their first bowl win and winning season since 2013.
For Georgia Tech (7-6), Haynes King completed 25 of 33 passes for three touchdowns and an interception, while Jamal Haynes rushed for 136 yards.
Aidan Birr’s 33-yard field goal trimmed Georgia Tech’s deficit to 14-13 at the 8:34 mark of the third quarter. Vanderbilt then answered with a five-play, 56-yard drive that spanned just 2:20, ending with Pavia’s 3-yard touchdown pass to Stowers with 56 seconds left in the third quarter.
Georgia Tech immediately gave the ball back to the Commodores, as King was picked off by CJ Taylor, which turned into Pavia’s 7-yard passing score to Quincy Skinner Jr., pushing Vanderbilt’s lead to 28-13 on the first play of the final quarter.
The Yellow Jackets then coughed the ball up again, as Malik Rutherford’s fumble was recovered by Aeneas DiCosmo at the 13:40 mark of the fourth. On the ensuing Vanderbilt drive, Pavia connected with Stowers for 39 yards, which was followed by Pavia’s 6-yard rushing touchdown with 9:59 left.
After a nearly hour-long lightning delay, Georgia Tech pulled within in two scores as King found Haynes for a 9-yard passing touchdown with 5:03 remaining. Following Vanderbilt’s punt, the Yellow Jackets drove 83 yards in 2:36, with King’s 2-yard passing touchdown to Bailey Stockton stamping the game’s scoring with 1:30 left.
After punting on its first drive — and forcing a pair of Georgia Tech punts — Vanderbilt pieced together an eight-play, 87-yard drive — highlighted by Pavia’s 40-yard pass to Loic Founji to the Yellow Jackets’ 8-yard line. Two plays later, Pavia found Cole Spence for a 7-yard touchdown pass with 2:26 left in the opening quarter.
Georgia Tech then ate up 7:20 with a 15-play, 75-yard scoring drive, stamped with King’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Ryland Goede with 10:06 left in the second quarter.
After Vanderbilt regained the lead on Pavia’s 2-yard rushing score on fourth and 1, Birr concluded the first half scoring with a 43-yard field goal with 8 seconds left, as Vanderbilt led 14-10 at halftime.
–Field Level Media
