Vanderbilt QB Wants Trump to Get Involved in College Football After Team Gets Left Out of Playoff in Latest Ranking

Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia (2) throws to a receiver during warmups before an NCAA college football game against Tennessee, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, in Knoxville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)

Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia called on President Donald Trump to sign an executive order that would allow the team to make the College Football Playoff.

On Tuesday, the College Football Playoff selection committee released its latest national rankings. The current playoff format puts the top 12 teams in the playoff, meaning those falling outside of the top 12 would miss the playoff. The committee will release its final rankings after the conference championship games this upcoming weekend.

Tuesday rankings had Vanderbilt at 14th. At the time of writing, the Commodores had a record of 10-2 and sat in seventh place in the Southeastern Conference. The only teams ahead of Vanderbilt in the SEC were juggernauts like Alabama, Georgia, and Ole Miss.

Naturally, the rankings didn’t come without controversy. Many teams, Vanderbilt included, felt like they were unfairly snubbed. As a result, analyst Brooks Austin proposed yet another expansion to the playoff.

“Screw it,” Austin said. “Go to 16. 4 SEC. 4 Big Ten. 2 ACC. 2 Big 12. 4 at-large bids decided by a computer ranking system. Get rid of these stupid committees filled with justifications nobody seems to understand.”

Pavia strongly agreed. With his team on the outside looking in, he tagged Trump in a tweet asking him to make the expansion happen.

“@realDonaldTrump MAKE THE EXECUTIVE ORDER PLEASE!!” Pavia tweeted.

Earlier that day, during Trump’s cabinet meeting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio joked that Trump should take over college football if Miami was left out of the playoff. The committee placed the Hurricanes at no. 12.

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