Diego Pavia throwing shade at Fernando Mendoza and Heisman voters was a terrible look

Although Diego Pavia had a decent shot of winning the Heisman Trophy, he came up short of college football's highest individual honor on Saturday night. The Vanderbilt Commodores star quarterback finished second to Indiana Hoosiers signal-caller Fernando Mendoza, who largely won in a landslide. Both players had outstanding seasons, but Mendoza leads college football's last undefeated team...

With an ever-present chip on his shoulder, Pavia made himself the victim in losing out to Mendoza.

Following the ceremony, Pavia shared this message over on his Instagram page: "F**k all the voters."

Pressured or whatnot, he put out a rather forced, ChatGPT-inspired apology to Mendoza and others.

Although this is kind of who Pavia has always been, this was not the time to make it about himself in defeat. Pavia is the ultimate love him or hate him type of athlete. This is guy who once urinated on New Mexico's logo while he was starring for rival New Mexico State. While Pavia did make Vanderbilt "f*****g turnt" after upsetting Alabama last year, not even Theo Von or his mom could save him here...

Mendoza is the complete opposite of Pavia from a personality standpoint, as he won with total grace.

Diego Pavia's antics proves Fernando Mendoza was fit for the Heisman

Look. We do not need to beat around the bush and talk down to people from their morale high horses about the Heisman. There have been plenty of not-so-great individuals who have won this award before in its illustrious history. This is not meant to assassinate Pavia's character, or put Mendoza atop a pedestal of being holier than thou. All things equal, this kind of stuff should matter in the end.

There are multiple reasons why Mendoza won the Heisman. He is the star quarterback on what was the best team in the country through the regular season and into this year's College Football Playoff. Mendoza put up the stats to win. More importantly, he has a pair of Heisman moments that can never get out of the minds of votes. His passes to Omar Cooper Jr., and then to Charlie Becker resonated.

Overall, Mendoza and Pavia were the right two players to finish neck-and-neck for this year's Heisman. Winning prolifically at Indiana was almost unheard of until last year. Pavia helped Vanderbilt get to 10 wins for the first time in program history. Had the cookie crumbled differently, the 'Dores might have been in the College Football Playoff, too. Instead, they are one of the first four teams out.

Ultimately, we as a society need to do a better job of winning with grace and losing with some dignity. Rubbing it in people's face as the victor is as bad of a look optically as it is taking your ball and going home as the loser. Hopefully, Pavia grows from this. For Mendoza, hopefully he can use this moment to become the player Indiana needs him to be in a playoff. It is a shame that this thing got so ugly...

In the end, Mendoza's polished nature and team-first antics are proof he was the right winner of this.