UC Davis is in the playoffs for the 25th time. Aggies face Rhode Island on ESPN2
Rested and ready — and primed to pounce.
That’s the theme resonating in Yolo County for the UC Davis football team.
The Aggies (8-3) on Saturday night will take on Rhode Island (10-2) in an FCS second-round playoff game at UC Davis Health Stadium. The game will be carried for a national audience on ESPN2 with a 7 p.m. kickoff.
UCD earned a No. 8 national seed and had an opening-round bye last week, and Rhode Island is seeded ninth and rolls into town with a seven-game winning streak. The Aggies are coming off of an inspired 31-27 victory over Sacramento State in the 71st and potentially final Causeway Classic on Nov. 22, allowing the program 14 days to heal up and prepare.
The rest was needed as the Aggies have been battered by injuries, including losing 15 players for the season throughout the campaign. UCD coaches, players, administrators and alumni have urged students and fans during finals week this week to pack the stadium in a season that has set program attendance records.
“Our guys enjoyed the time away to be with family (over the Thanksgiving weekend), and a chance to rest bodies and minds, and to reset for a difficult opponent,” UCD coach Tim Plough said this week during his weekly media news conference. “We want to make a playoff run, hopefully.”
The coach added, “It’s great to have a break and to be back in football.”
Flashbacks to 1977 UCD game on ABC
This is the first ESPN broadcast for a UCD playoff game in the program’s storied history, a run that includes 25 postseason berths. Most of those came during the Aggies’ dominating run in Division II. UCD moved up to Division I in 2007. The FCS playoff berths for the Aggies are from 2018, 2021, 2024 and now, with the recent teams marking the program’s most talented and best teams, in part because the program did not offer athletic scholarships while in Division II.
The playoffs are nothing new for UCD. This is UCD’s 25th all-time playoff team, and this is not the first time the program has played a postseason game on national television.
In 1977, UCD under famed coach Jim Sochor hosted Lehigh in a Division II semifinal at Toomey Field in Davis, the clunky old stadium that housed the program for decades.
ABC carried the game with a 10 a.m. local kickoff. Former Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian did color on the broadcast. In a great tale recounted by Davis media giant Bob Dunning this week, Parseghian opened the broadcast by welcoming the audience to the “beautiful San Joaquin Valley.”
Well. Kind of close to the San Joaquin Valley, if covering territory by Learjet.
Sochor was a man big on details during his college football Hall of Fame career, and he never without his trusty blue and gold scarf on game day. He was so locked into Lehigh that he didn’t notice his gas gauge in his car and ran out of fuel. Sochor needed a lift for the last stretch to the stadium.
UCD’s 11-0 season ended with a 39-30 loss, and Lehigh went on to win the national championship.
UCD set attendance records in 2025
UCD set a UC Davis Health Stadium record with an overflow crowd of 17,217 for the Aggies’ home opener on Sept. 30, a 50-34 victory over Southern Utah. UCD’s capacity is listed at 10,743, but that does not include those sitting on the berm or standing-room-only patrons. Against Sac State, UCD drew 14,590.
UCD is 4-1 at home this season.
As storied as UCD is, having started its football program in 1915, Rhode Island can speak of decades-long football. The school stared its football program in 1895 but didn’t win conference championships until the 1950s, and the Rams have won eight conference crowns total, including this season.
The Rams have appeared in the Division I-AA or FCS playoffs five times, all since 1981, going 3-4. The 2024 Rhode Island team made the playoffs for the first time since 1985.
UCD has gone 2-3 in the FCS playoffs and went 15-18 in the Division II playoffs.
No. 9 Rhode Island (11-2) at No. 8 UC Davis (8-3)
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
On air: ESPN2, Sactown Sports 1140 Radio
Of note: Rhode Island has played 13 games and UCD 11, and the discrepancy is rooted in two things. UCD’s opening game against Mercer was ruled a no-contest after nearby lightning strikes prompted continuous hour-long delays. UCD led in the fourth quarter when the game was stopped. UCD also had a bye while Rhode Island did not have a playoff bye, beating Central Connecticut State, 27-19 last week in a game that included 685 combined passing yards. Devin Farrell passed for 374 yards and two touchdowns last week for Rhode Island, and he ranks fourth in program history with 5,189 career passing yards.
UCD is led offensively by quarterback Caden Pinnick of Del Oro High School in Placer County. He was named the Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year. He has passed for 2,527 yards and 25 touchdowns and rushed for 312 and three scores.