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) earned their first bowl victory and winning season since 2013.

For Georgia Tech (7-6), Haynes King completed 25 of 33 passes for three touchdowns and one interception, while Jamal Haynes rushed for 136 yards.

Aidan Birr’s 33-yard field goal cut Georgia Tech’s deficit to 14-13 with 8:34 left in the third quarter. Vanderbilt then responded with a five-play, 56-yard drive that lasted just 2:20 and ended 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 when King was picked off by CJ Taylor, which turned into Pavia’s 7-yard pass score to Quincy Skinner Jr., increasing Vanderbilt’s lead to 28–13 on the first play of the final quarter.

The Yellow Jackets then coughed up the ball again when Malik Rutherford’s fumble was recovered by Aeneas DiCosmo at 13:40 of the fourth. On the ensuing Vanderbilt drive, Pavia connected with Stowers for 39 yards, followed by a 6-yard touchdown with 9:59 left.

After a nearly hour-long lightning delay, Georgia Tech got within two points when King found Haynes for a 9-yard passing touchdown with 5:03 left. After Vanderbilt’s punt, the Yellow Jackets covered 83 yards in 2:36, with King’s 2-yard pass touchdown to Bailey Stockton with 1:30 left tying the score.

After punting on its first drive – and forcing two Georgia Tech punts – Vanderbilt engineered an eight-play, 87-yard drive highlighted by Pavia’s 40-yard pass to Loic Founji to the Yellow Jackets’ 8-yard pass line. Two plays later, Pavia found Cole Spence for a 7-yard touchdown pass with 2:26 left in the first quarter.

Georgia Tech then took a 7:20 lead with a 15-play, 75-yard scoring drive, capped by 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 ended the first half with a 43-yard field goal with eight seconds left, giving Vanderbilt a 14-10 lead at halftime led.

–Field level media