Vanderbilt Player Quotes
QB Diego Pavia
On the adjustments the offense made in the second half
"We stopped killing ourselves. We stopped shooting ourselves in the foot. The penalties hurt us. First half, you know, we did not play a clean game of football. And then second half, that fourth and one, you know, we got it. Not too many, we need to put one more on the ball. And that's just, that's part of life. You know, we didn't, we didn't come prepared. But, you know, I'm proud of how the guys fought. And, you know, I love every single one of those guys in the locker room. Super excited for those futures. And we're a brotherhood, so we'll forever stay in contact."
On whether he felt he could pull off a victory in the second half
"Yeah, for sure. I mean, I feel like with our team, with how we're kind of just grew up and how we've been playing football, we're always in the fight. And so, there was never a quit on the sideline, never a quit anywhere. And so, as a salute to the guys, you know, I'm excited for them to build on that for next year, and then obviously raise the standard."
On Vanderbilt's historic season and reflecting on the accomplishment
"Yeah, it's the first 10-1 season ever. To think that we had the greatest team to ever come through Vanderbilt in the locker room one last time here, obviously, it's heartbreaking and sad. But you look at the guys, see how much talent we got on the team. And we got a lot of NFL players on the team, so I'm excited to see them in the NFL. And then, eventually, for Vanderbilt to get better and then win the national championship."
LB Langston Patterson
On finishing the season with a loss in the ReliaQuest Bowl
"Yeah, it's tough, a lot of groundwork was done. We just wanted to kind of put a cherry on top and to not come out with the win today hurts, going out. This is the best team Vanderbilt's ever had, and it's history. And so, just love for the guys, man, it's hard. It's seniors last game, stuff like that, like the love that we have in our locker room, it's hard to go out on that. But in the end, it just gives us motivation for next year to keep pushing, keep going, and just this year was a really good platform for Team Six to leap off on."
On the message from Coach Lea
"I mean, yeah, I mean, for him, it's just like, it sucks to lose, but at the end of the day, which I'll accomplish this whole season, it's special. And we have a team unlike any other team in the country, and it stinks that we couldn't play another quarter, two quarters. We started off slow and we were coming back, but at the end of the day, credit to Iowa, they did a good job, had a good game plan, and we just gotta come out better."
WR Junior Sherrill
On what the team can take from this season
"I feel like to be a dominant team, there has to be togetherness. Like we always say togetherness, that's how it is, that's how it is. And the brotherhood in this team, this program is amazing. Everybody's cool with everybody. Everybody has each other's number. Everybody can call each other. Like, that's one thing for sure that we need to have."
TE Cole Spence
On what Iowa did that really gave Vanderbilt problems
"Yeah, you know, a lot of the guys are down right now. I think it's always important to praise God and always just follow the high, so I'm gonna start off with doing that. I live and breathe in the name of the God who loves me. And I can't be more grateful for anything other than that. Iowa played a strong game. In terms of scheme, you know, they ran plays that we were expecting. We just didn't execute in all three phases. You know, in offense, we struggled early. Special teams, we had a couple hiccups, so there was a lot of blame going around. And I blame myself a lot."
On if there was anything Iowa did that Vanderbilt did not expect
"Other than like some minor things, they ran what we knew that they were gonna run. Other than some minor mid-game adjustments, I think in the run game, the D-ends (Defensive Ends) did a good job, which we hadn't seen much on tape. We were just jumping from their techniques just to try to confuse their communication a little bit. But I feel like we handled that fairly well. No, they just played a good game."
DL Khordae Sydnor
On what Iowa did that really gave Vanderbilt difficulty, or was it lack execution by Vanderbilt?
"It came down to execution. I played at Purdue for three years. They (Iowa) never changed their identity. They're very good on special teams, very good on defense. On the offense, they're going to run the ball, have some play-action boots, and stuff like that. They play very technically sound. They made more plays than us, and I think that's what it came down to."
Reflecting on the successful season that Vanderbilt has had despite the tough loss
"It's been awesome, man. One thing I'll say was the best thing this whole year is our brotherhood. All of our guys preached that. This was a tight, close-knit group. It's awesome to just see us prove the whole world wrong and know inside of the building that we're good enough to compete on this level and dominate. It's been one hell of a ride, man, and I'll never forget these boys. I love them for life."