It feels like almost a foregone conclusion that Vanderbilt football will be waking up Sunday morning off to a 1-0 start to the 2026 season.
After all, the Commodores are taking on FCS opponent Austin Peay and are 28.5-point favorites as of Wednesday afternoon. It is a game that Vanderbilt should have in the bag by the late stages of the game.
But Austin Peay will not arrive in FirstBank Stadium accepting defeat before the ball is even kicked off. The Governors are chomping at the bit to play in Nashville and attempt to pull a Week 1 stunner.
The feeling of respect between the two programs is mutual. Vanderbilt is not going to be taking Austin Peay lightly. Austin Peay may be in the FCS, but the program is ranked No. 15 in the FCS Top 25 and has FCS playoff aspirations.
One of those Austin Peay players hoping to wreck the beginning of a new era of Vanderbilt football is Austin Peay quarterback Chris Parson . Parson is a dual threat quarterback that is coming off a season-opener where he threw for 308 yards and a touchdown as well as 31 rushing yards and a touchdown. Parson was also named as the Preseason Player of the Year in the United Athletic Conference (UAC).
Austin Peay head football coach Jeff Faris called Parson the most "relentless" competitor he has ever seen and believes his quarterback is entering this weekend with the right mindset to pull a shocker. Parson is playing with a little extra motivation this weekend because he attended high school just under 20 miles from Vanderbilt's campus.
"Going into Vanderbilt, I know he's tremendously excited. Obviously he's a Williamson county kid, and went to Ravenwood High School. So there's going to be a lot of familiarity," Faris said in his weekly press conference of his quarterback's mentality.
Austin Peay is embracing the opportunity to roll into Nashville and play Vanderbilt. In addition to Parson, Austin Peay has 31 other guys on its roster that are from the state of Tennessee. Perhaps some of those 32 players may feel they are worthy of having a spot on a bigger school in the state and are looking to prove it.
Getting a dominant home win over Gardner-Webb in its season-opener was a nice way for Austin Peay to start the fall. But it does not compare to the environment that the program will experience against Vanderbilt Saturday night. Regardless, though, Austin Peay does not mind.
"Not just Chris, but our team wants to play on the biggest stages. We have retained, recruited and developed an attitude where we can play anybody anytime any place on any stage. That's kind of our mentality and has been for the past two years," Faris said.
Despite the campuses of Vanderbilt and Austin Peay being separated by about an hour - give or take a few minutes pending traffic - the Commodores and Governors have only met twice all time on the football field.
The first time the two schools played each other was Sept. 7, 2013, where Vanderbilt beat Austin Peay 38-3. The most recent and only other time the two met was Sept. 19, 2015, where the Commodores crushed the Governors 47-7.
This fall will only be the third meeting all-time between the schools. But Faris has no problem if it were to become a common matchup.
"I'm fired up, I want to play those guys [Vanderbilt and Middle Tennessee State] every year. Like, why would we go travel far? These are some old rivalries, let's play those guys. A lot of familiarity between teams. I'm all for it. But very, very excited for the opportunities in Murfreesboro, Nashville, all across our great state," Faris said.
Whether the two schools play more often in the future is irrelevant right now. What is relevant is if Vanderbilt will indeed begin the 2026 season on the right note.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/vanderbilt as Vanderbilt Football Is A Heavy Favorite, But Austin Peay Isn't Backing Down .
