There may not be more of a respected name in sports media than ESPN's Scott Van Pelt. He's the final reason to even tune in to SportsCenter anymore. His show - and his podcast - are routinely great. He tells it like it is and is always well-informed.
On a recent episode of his podcast - SVPod - he and Stanford Steve discussed the Alabama-Vanderbilt game, with SVP giving his opinion that Vanderbilt should be ready for a better prepared and pissed off Alabama team this year.
"There will be a very different energy and focus on the Alabama squad in how they approach this game because you've earned their respect," Van Pelt said. "And what comes with that is a steeper hill to climb because they slept on you, I think. Now they know just how much of a pain in the ass Pavia is, how hard it is to get him off the field. Bama is a 10.5-point favorite in this one. I could see Bama being in winners.
"I just think, you poked the bear, you beat the bear... well then the bear is coming for your ass."
If Alabama brings the energy Scott Van Pelt expects then the Tide should roll
Even coming off an emotional win over Georgia, Alabama should be well-prepared and ready for this game against Vanderbilt.
They remember the pain and the embarrassment that came with losing to Vanderbilt last season. There wouldn't be any embarrassment this season - Vanderbilt looks like one of the better teams in the SEC through five weeks - but revenge is certainly on the mind of the Crimson Tide.
Last season's loss was the biggest stain on Kane Wommack's resume as the defensive coordinator in Tuscaloosa. If he doesn't have a good plan to combat the Commodores this time around, then he's probably not long for the job.
Because any competitor would be embarrassed by last year's performance and would have put a ton of time into fixing the issues so they didn't happen again.
Alabama has all the motivation it needs for this game. They didn't need any extra from Diego Pavia's comments, though Kalen DeBoer will gladly take it.
If Alabama is a true National Championship contender - and they've truly turned the corner from the loss to Florida State - then they will beat the Commodores at home, likely without much of a fuss.