One of the most underrated games of the Week 0 slate was a matchup of two top FCS programs in UC-Davis (#8) and Mercer (#12).
Both teams were coming off seasons where they were eliminated from national title contention in the FCS quarterfinals, UC Davis losing to South Dakota, and Mercer to eventual national champion North Dakota State.
Coming off their best season in school history after going 11-3 last fall, Tim Plough's Aggies came out hot with redshirt freshman quarterback Caden Pinnick completing his first nine passes of the first half as the Aggies stormed out to a 21-3 lead. Running back Jordan Fisher was on track for a 100-yard rushing day, toting the ball 8 times for 84 yards, averaging over 10 yards per carry.
But Mike Jacobs, in his second year leading the program after successful stops at Notre Dame College (D-II - OH) and Lenoir Rhyne (D-II - NC), and his Bears squad stormed back, closing the gap to 23-17.
That's when things got interesting.
With about eight minutes left in the game, the cameras switched to a singular wide view from the 50-yard line. The play-by-play guys on the call for the night explained that they had to abandon cameras down by the field due to lightning in the area, but the strikes weren't close enough to put a stop to the game just yet.
That all changed with 7:46 left in the game. With UC Davis up 23-17, the officials called a stop to the game due to "lightning in the area."
Players hustled off the field to safety shortly after the announcement. Following a weather delay of about 90 minutes, the game was declared a no contest.
After a nearly two-hour pause, officials declared the game a no contest.
Despite getting nearly in three-and-a-half quarters along with weeks of preparation for the FCS Kickoff contest, the game will go down just as if it was cancelled and never happened at all. Official stats are not recorded for the game, and while UC Davis had the lead at the time the game was called, no team is declared the winner - or loser.
Normally, that may not be a big deal, but both Mercer and UC Davis are expecting to be in the hunt to win their conference, and every FCS team is set to play 12 regular season games this year...but the Bears and Aggies will just have 11 to their credit when the season comes to an end.
A win for either program would have been a huge non-conference win for their resumes, but with the game going down as a no-contest, that could really hurt their postseason chances in the eyes of the playoff selection committee who weigh quality of Division I wins in their decision.
Provided UC Davis and Mercer don't win their respective leagues, the conversation around an at-large bid and the game that was called with under 8-minutes remaining, resulting in the no-contest designation, could really make the postseason conversation around both teams very interesting.
Here's to hoping it doesn't come down to that.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.