UVA opens the 2014 season on Saturday against seventh-ranked UCLA. Kickoff is at noon in Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Va. The game is being broadcast on ESPN and on radio on the Virginia Sports Network. UCLA is a 21-point favorite heading into the contest.
UVA-UCLA Game Notes
Virginia Opens 125th season of football
• The University of Virginia opens its 125th season of football Saturday against UCLA.
• UVa will be playing its 84th season in Scott Stadium, which opened Oct. 15, 1931, against VMI.
• UVa is 80-35-9 (.681) all-time in season openers.
• The Cavaliers are 74-19-7 (.775) in home season openers and have won 17 of their last 20 openers in Scott Stadium.
• In his career as a head coach, Mike London has won all six of his season-openers: 2008 at Elon and 2009 at Duke while at Richmond and 2010 vs. Richmond , 2011 vs. William & Mary, 2012 vs. Richmond and 2013 vs. BYU while at Virginia.
• London is the only UVa head coach to win season openers in his first four years at Virginia. Last year’s 19-16 win over BYU in the season opener snapped a tie with Rice Warren (1913, 1920-21), who was the only other man to win season openers in his first three years at Virginia.
UCLA Makes Second-ever trip to an ACC Stadium
• UCLA is making its second-ever trip to an ACC stadium when it visits Scott Stadium this Saturday.
• The only other time UCLA played at an ACC stadium was in 1955 when the then-No. 1 Bruins lost to former ACC member Maryland, 7-0, at Byrd Stadium. The Terrapins were ranked No. 5 in the nation that week in a game that was billed as “The Best in the West” vs. “The Best in the East.”
• UCLA is 17-13 all-time versus current members of the ACC, most recently beating Virginia Tech last time out in the 2013 Sun Bowl, 42-12.
• UCLA’s games against Pitt (9-5), Syracuse (2-6) and Miami (2-1) all were played before those programs were members of the ACC. UCLA has also played Duke (1-0), Florida State (0-1), NC State (2-0) and Virginia Tech (1-0).
• UCLA has never played in the Commonwealth of Virginia before.
Virginia vs. UCLA and the Pac-12
• Virginia is facing UCLA for the first time in program history.
• Saturday’s game is only the fifth time Virginia has faced a member of the Pac-12 Conference.
• UVa is 0-4 against the Pac-12 and its the only BCS conference the Cavaliers are winless against.
• UCLA is the third team from the Pac-12 to ever travel to Scott Stadium, joining usc (2008) and Oregon (2013).
• UVa returned the trip to usc on Sept. 11, 2010 and fell to the then-No. 14 Trojans, 17-14 in head coach Mike London’s first road contest at the helm for Virginia.
• UVa also lost at Washington in 1976.
• The Cavaliers open the 2015 season at UCLA on Sept. 5.
• UVa also travels to Oregon on Sept. 10, 2016.
• The Cavaliers will host Stanford in 2017 and travel to Stanford in 2018.
Virginia – UCLA Connections
• UVa offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild and UCLA offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone each has worked with NFL Pro-Bowl quarterback Phillip Rivers. Fairchild worked with Rivers during his recent stint with the Chargers and Mazzone as the offensive coordinator at NC State, Rivers’ alma mater.
• Fairchild was the offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills when UCLA’s defensive line coach Angus McClure was a NFL guest coach for the Bills in 2006 and 2007. McClure was the offensive line coach and run game coordinator for the University of Buffalo at the time.
UVa Connections with the State of California
• The state of California supplied the fifth-most applicants to the University of Virginia for the Fall 2014 first-year class. Virginia was first, followed by New York, New Jersey, Maryland and then California.
• UVa football has had numerous California natives on its roster over the years, but have not had one since 2009 when OLB Darren Childs (San Diego) was on Grounds.
• Two UVa assistant coaches grew up in California.
• Offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild attended San Diego’s Patrick Henry High School. Other notable alumni from Patrick Henry High School are current Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Aaron Harang, 1998 Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams and actress Annette Benning.
• UVa assistant coach Scott Wachenheim was born in Encino, Calif. (12 miles from UCLA) and went to William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills (14 miles from UCLA).
• Taft High School has several notable alumni, such as actors Robin Wright, Lisa Kudrow and Jason Bateman, MLB Hall of Famer Robin Yount and St. Louis Rams head coach Jeff Fisher.
• Wachenheim attended high school at the same time as Kudrow (Phoebe on “Friends”) and Susan Olsen, who played Cindy Brady on TV’s “The Brady Bunch.”
• Associate head coach for offense Tom O’Brien was stationed in San Diego for part of his nine years in the Marines and is where he met his wife, Jennifer.
A Virginia Gentleman Leads UCLA
• UCLA’s Chancellor, Dr. Gene Block, spent nearly 30 years on the Grounds of the University of Virginia in a myriad of positions.
• Block joined the faculty at UVa in 1978 as a professor of biology. He served as vice provost for research from 1993 to 1998 and then as vice president for research and public service until his appointment as vice president and provost in 2001. In 1998, he received the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Outstanding Public Service Award for his work with Virginia’s business community.
• Block was named Chancellor at UCLA in 2007.
• UCLA football sports information director Steve Rourke is a 1979 graduate of UVa.
Schools Bound for the East: UVa Hosts UCLA
• UCLA’s trip to Scott Stadium marks the 13th time in UVa program history that the Cavaliers have hosted a team from west of the Mississippi River.
• Teams that have visited Charlottesville from the West are: BYU (2000, 2013), Colorado State (2002), Idaho (2011), Kansas (1991), Louisiana Tech (2012), Oregon (2013), San Jose State (1998), Texas (1996), TCU (2009), UCLA (2014), usc (2008) and Wyoming (2006).
• UVa is 6-5 against teams from west of the Mississippi River when the game is played in Charlottesville.
• Including 2014, UVa has hosted a team from west of the Mississippi River in seven of the past nine seasons after hosting only five in the first 116 years of the program.
• The Rose Bowl, home of UCLA, is 2,567 miles from Scott Stadium. Round trip is 5,134 miles.
• More teams from west of the Mississippi River are secheduled to come to Charlottesville in the future: Boise State (2015), Stanford (2017) and BYU (2019). UVa will return each trip the subsequent season.
Virginia In the Month of August
• UVa’s 2014 season-opening game with UCLA on Aug. 30 marks the eighth game in Virginia football history to be played in the month of August and the second year in a row the Cavaliers have played August football.
• Virginia is 2-5 all-time in the month of August and 2-2 at Scott Stadium.
• UVa faced Notre Dame in 1989 (Kickoff Classic), Wisconsin in 2001, Colorado State & Florida State in 2002, Duke in 2003, usc in 2008 and BYU in 2013.
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