Paul Skrbina, Nashville TennesseanThu, December 4, 2025 at 2:19 AM UTC·1 min readDiego Pavia knows all about the thrill of victory with Vanderbilt football.
But the quarterback, who is pushing to become a Heisman Trophy finalist, also got what can come with it on Nov. 29, when he led the Commodores to a 45-24 victory against Tennessee in Knoxville.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementPavia said Dec. 1 during an appearance on the "Bussin' with the Boys" podcast that he had suffered a broken nose during the game, though he didn't say how.
On Dec. 2, he cleared the air during an appearance on Amazon's "Good Sports" talk show with Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson after Hart noticed Pavia had a black eye.
Let's just say an official added injury to insult.
"This is a bad story," Pavia said. "I threw an interception on Saturday. I go to make a block. I get blocked in the back. The ref threw the flag and it came through my helmet and nailed me around the nose. I think it's broken."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementPavia turned the tables on Hart, asking whether he'd ever had a broken nose, to which Hart replied he hadn't.
"The Rock never punished you, maybe just hit you in the nose one time?" Pavia asked.
"Nope, nope," Hart said.
Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at [email protected] and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt football's Diego Pavia tells how nose got broken vs Tennessee
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