Cincinnati Prepped for Season-Opening Battle vs. Nebraska in Kansas City – College of Cincinnati Athletics

CINCINNATI – The 2025 Cincinnati Football season begins next Thursday, Aug. 28 against Nebraska in the Battle Sports Kansas City Classic at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

The game is set to kick off at 9:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.

The 2025 season will be the 138^th football season in school history, and its third as a member of the Big 12 Conference with head coach Scott Satterfield at the helm.

Fans around the country will get a look at the Bearcats next Thursday, as their battle with the Cornhuskers will be the lone matchup between two Power Four teams that night.

“It’s a little different, playing a midweek game,” Satterfield said. “This Sunday is a Tuesday for us according to our schedule, we always count back from game day. It’ll be a short week for us playing on a Thursday, but we’re playing on ESPN during opening weekend so it will be a great opportunity for us to go out and see what kind of team we have.”

The Bearcats enter the season with 39 new scholarship players, but perhaps the most impactful addition isn’t a player. The Sheakley Indoor Practice Facility and Athletics Performance Center opened in June, and it has totally transformed the way the program can work, fuel, recover, and more.

“Our guys are over here all day long,” Satterfield said of the new facility. “The interactions we’ve had with our players have been great. The ease of going from the locker room to the training room to the weight room and then coming out on the field is phenomenal. We have had a pretty healthy camp so far and I think part of that has been because of the recovery tools we have in this building.”   

Following the tilt in Kansas City, Cincinnati returns home for back-to-back games at Nippert Stadium. The homer opener vs. Bowling Green is set for Saturday, Sept. 6 and UC will host Northwestern State on Saturday, Sept. 13. Both games will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET and will be televised on ESPN+.