For the Vanderbilt Commodores, a historic 10-win season should have been a coronation; instead, it became the catalyst for a bitter fight against the College Football Playoff establishment. Beating teams like the South Carolina Gamecocks, LSU Tigers, and Missouri Tigers wasn’t enough to crack the postseason picture. No wonder Diego Pavia made his feelings clear to the CFP committee.

“It’s a lot of politics at the top with what’s going on,” Pavia sounded desperate in a conversation with ESPN analyst Matt Barrie, as tweeted on December 4. “If you look at our strength of schedule at the beginning of the year, there’s no other 10-2 SEC team left out.”

On December 2, the College Football Playoff slotted Vanderbilt at No. 14, even after Pavia and crew stomped Tennessee 45–24 to finish 10-2.

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