Aggies face rugged season opener as 2025 football starts early

Evaluating all 12 games in the regular season as UCD chases another playoff bid

I have friends in journalism who are beat writers for a specific college football team that they will follow from start to finish this fall.

In the preseason "Fall Camp" time, which we are now in, some of them feel they must predict the exact outcome of all 12 opponents on their assigned team's regular season schedule.

I sympathize with them, because this uncomfortable time between the start of formal practice and the first real game is a bit of a struggle for sports journalists because there are no true games to write about. This sad fact leaves us all scrambling for an interesting angle to fill our pages.

Like what the presumed starting quarterback had for breakfast, what with the price of a dozen eggs these days.

So, as I preview the entire 2025 UC Davis football schedule here, I will not take the bait and try to forecast the final score of every game, though I'll probably be doing some mathematical calculations in my mind as to what this season might bring.

There are some games, of course, that the Aggies will be expected to win, at least on paper before the season begins.

Utah Tech (August 30 in St. George) and Northern Colorado (October 25 in Greeley) are at the head of the class on that list. Which is not to say they're automatic wins, especially on the road, but the Aggies will certainly be heavily favored in both games.

Utah Tech was formerly known as Dixie State before a student revolt about the name "Dixie" led to a name change several years ago. However, the whole area around the beautiful city of St. George, where Utah Tech is located, is still known as Little Dixie and probably always will be.

But this is a piece about football, not geography.