Aggies arrive in Montgomery, ready to play some football
No. 7 UC Davis and No. 11 Mercer kick off the college football season Saturday at 4 p.m. on ESPN
MONTGOMERY, Alabama - Arriving on Thursday night, a day earlier than usual due to the long flight involved, UC Davis will open the 2025 college football season in this state's historic capital city Saturday evening against Mercer University of Macon, Georgia in the 21,000-seat Cramton Bowl.
The annual FCS Kickoff Classic, by invitation only, will be nationally televised by ESPN beginning at 4 p.m. (PDT) time, which is 6 p.m. Montgomery time.
Both teams are led by second-year head coaches, Tim Plough of UC Davis and Mike Jacobs of Mercer, both of whom posted 11-3 records last season and reached the quarterfinal round of the FCS playoffs.
Mercer, in fact, has been to the playoffs two straight years and won one game each time, but had the misfortune of falling to eventual national champion South Dakota State, 41-0, in 2023 and to eventual national champion North Dakota State, 31-7, in 2024.
Okay, raise your hand if you've never heard of Mercer.