Diego Pavia threw the ball to a heckling fan after running out of bounds in the red zone during the third quarter of the Vanderbilt Football Birmingham Bowl against Georgia Tech.

The play came shortly after a CJ Taylor interception gave the Commodores (6-6) the lead on a short field. Pavia gained four yards on the play, but was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that set Vanderbilt back 15 yards.

The Commodores later scored a touchdown to take a 28-13 lead.

The play came after an increasingly rocky third quarter for Vanderbilt. On the previous drive, which also resulted in a Commodores touchdown, three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties were called against Georgia Tech, but two of those were offset by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Vanderbilt. The third penalty was against Yellow Jackets coach Brent Key for arguing a pass interference call.

In the second quarter, the Commodores’ Kolbey Taylor was called for unsportsmanlike conduct and players from both teams got into a scuffle without a penalty being assessed.

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Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at [email protected] or on X, formerly Twitter, @aria_gerson.

This article originally appeared on the Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt football: Diego Pavia throws the ball into the stands and drags the flag into the bowl