CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The Austin Peay football team keeps accomplishing firsts during the 2026 season. Just weeks ago, the team earned its highest-ever regular-season ranking, and now the team is breaking more ground in the rankings.

On Tuesday, the Division-I Football Championship Committee released its first in-season top 10 rankings. In the 10-year history of these rankings, the Governors are finally included this week as Austin Peay lands at No. 9. The full top 10 released by the committee looks like this:

  1. Montana State
  2. Tarleton State
  3. Youngstown State
  4. Stephen F. Austin
  5. South Dakota State
  6. North Dakota
  7. Northern Arizona
  8. South Dakota
  9. Austin Peay
  10. Harvard

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Illinois State, Lehigh and Tennessee Tech are the other teams that received votes but didn’t crack the list.

Criteria for the FCS playoffs

According to the committee, the following criteria are used to formulate these rankings:

  • Regional Advisory Committee rankings.
  • Committee review of 3-4 games nationally each week.
  • Each team’s won-lost record.
  • Each team’s strength of schedule.
  • Eligibility and availability of student-athletes for the NCAA championship.

These rankings are interesting because they give us a good idea of how the committee sees the top teams. If these were the final rankings, Austin Peay would be likely to host a playoff game. The top eight seeds are guaranteed to host, while the seeds lower than eight have to bid for a home game.

Austin Peay's Chris Parson looks to pass against Vanderbilt on Saturday, September 5, 2026. (Knox Rives, APSU Contributed).
Austin Peay’s Chris Parson looks to pass against Vanderbilt on Saturday, September 5, 2026. (Knox Rives, APSU Contributed).

Where is Austin Peay in the polls?

Two weeks ago, the Govs were at No. 8 in one poll and No. 9 in another. After the loss to Tarleton State, the team didn’t fall too far, dropping to No. 11 and No. 12, respectively.

Last weekend, the Govs picked up another convincing win while some top teams lost. As a result, the Govs are back inside the top 10 in the AFCA Coaches Poll and the Stats Perform Media Poll. Both polls have the Govs at No. 9, which means this is the second time in program history the Govs have been a consensus top-10 team in the regular season.

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