Clark Lea lost his first-ever game at Vanderbilt football to an FCS team, East Tennessee State, five years ago.
Lea hasn’t forgotten that. A few players on the team were even still there for that 2021 game.
Since that day, the program has improved a lot. Lea has led the Commodores to two bowl games and has won his season opener in four straight seasons. That includes wins over Virginia Tech to kick off both the 2024 and 2025 season.
Vanderbilt’s opening opponent this season, Austin Peay, is an FCS team. Like ETSU, though, the Governors are a well-regarded FCS team that is usually ranked in its division. That game will take place Sept. 5 at 6 p.m. CT at FirstBank Stadium and be televised on SEC Network+.
There’s already been a slight concern pop up for Lea. He didn’t like the way the team practiced Sept. 1, saying the team lacked attention to detail and let the heat get to it.
“I don’t want to be overly dramatic, I want to be honest,” Lea said. ” … There were just a couple of groups that felt like we lacked the intensity that we’re going to need and I see that as being conditional. We want to have an unconditional team. The ball gets put down and we play one way.”
Austin Peay has Ravenwood graduate Chris Parson, who started his career at Mississippi State at quarterback. In the Governors’ season opener against Gardner-Webb, he went 14-of-21 passing for 308 yards and a touchdown.
“Every team is different. What we can’t do is let our expectations for the season … rob us of the presence we need to win a game on Saturday,” Lea said. “We’re going to learn no matter what happens, but it’s way more fun to learn from wins.”
Vanderbilt hasn’t been shy about its high expectations for the 2026 season.
But the Commodores know, after the loss to ETSU as well as the loss to Georgia State in 2025, that they can’t envision themselves at the mountaintop. Success comes one game at a time, and Vanderbilt must play the same against every opponent.
That starts with improving practice habits for the remainder of the week.
“They play with passion,” linebacker Nick Rinaldi said. “They have good coaches. A few of our coaches here have coached with some of their coaches in the past. We know a little bit about the passion that they bring. … They can beat us if we don’t play a good game.”
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at [email protected] or on X @aria_gerson.
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