Virginia Commences 126th Season of Football Saturday at No. 13 UCLA

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Aug. 31, 2015

Virginia Opens 126th Season of Football
• The University of Virginia opens its 126th season of football Saturday against UCLA at the historic Rose Bowl.
• UVa will be playing its 85th season in Scott Stadium, which opened Oct. 15, 1931, against VMI.
• UVa is 80-36-9 (.676) all-time in season openers.
• UVa is 6-16-2 (.292) all-time when opening the season on the road.
• Saturday is the first time Virginia has opened a season away from Charlottesville since 2007 when the Cavaliers lost at Wyoming, 23-3, to commence their Gator Bowl run in Chris Long’s final season on Grounds.
• In his career as a head coach, Mike London is 6-1 all-time in his seven 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 were all wins. The lone loss came last season against UCLA.
• London is the only UVa head coach to win season openers in his first four years at Virginia. UVa’s 2013 opener, a 19-16 win over BYU, 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. London’s streak of season-opening wins to start a UVa career was snapped in 2014 to UCLA (L, 28-20).

Virginia Makes Second-Ever Trip to California
• Virginia is making its second-ever trip to California when it visits the Rose Bowl this Saturday.
• The Cavaliers made their first-ever trip to California on Sept. 11, 2010 when UVa fell at No. 16 USC, 17-14.
• UCLA is 18-13 all-time versus current members of the ACC, most recently beating Virginia in both teams’ 2014 season-opening game, 28-20.
• 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).

Virginia vs. UCLA and the Pac-12
• Virginia is facing UCLA for the second time in program history. UVa opened up the 2014 season at home to then-No. 7 UCLA and lost, 28-20.
• Saturday’s game is only the sixth time Virginia has faced a member of the Pac-12 Conference.
• UVa is 0-5 against the Pac-12 and it’s the only `Power 5′ conference against whom the Cavaliers are winless.
• UCLA was the third team from the Pac-12 to ever travel to Scott Stadium in 2014, 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.
• UVa travels to Oregon on Sept. 10, 2016.

Virginia – UCLA Connections
• UVa offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild and UCLA offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone each have 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 at Buffalo at the time.
• UVa QB Connor Brewer has cheered on the Bruins before in his life. His two older brothers, Charles and Chase, played baseball at UCLA. Charles (2007-09) went on to appear in the Big Leagues with the Diamondbacks in 2013 as a pitcher. Chase, also a right-handed pitcher, also pitched in the Arizona Diamondbacks system and reached Class A with the Yakima Bears.
• Brewer also has a vested interest in UCLA’s cross-town rival USC. His younger sister, Abby, currently is on USC’s sand volleyball team after spending one season at Tennessee on the indoor team.

Familiarity Between UVa’s Tenuta and UCLA’s Mazzone
• While UCLA and UVa have never met in football, there is some familiarity between UVa’s defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta and UCLA’s offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone.
• As a defensive coordinator, Tenuta has had to prepare three times for a Mazzone-coordinated offense. Tenuta is 3-0 in those games.
• While the defensive coordinator at North Carolina, Tenuta first faced Mazzone in 2001 when Mazzone was the offensive coordinator at Auburn.
• The other two games came when Tenuta was the defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech and faced Mazzone as the offensive coordinator at NC State (2003 & 2004).
• Tenuta and Mazzone also faced each other three years in a row, 1989-91, when Tenuta was on the SMU staff and Mazzone was on the TCU staff. Mazzone was the quarterbacks coach at TCU, while Tenuta was the defensive backs coach for the first meeting and the defensive coordinator for the second two.

Rare Trip West of the Mississippi for the Cavaliers
• This is only the 18th game played west of the Mississippi River in UVa school history.
• Virginia is 4-13 in games played west of the Mississippi.
• UVa’s last venture west was a 41-33 loss at then-No. 21 BYU in 2014; the Cavaliers’ last win west of the Mississippi was a 45-40 win at BYU on Sept. 25, 1999.
• At approximately 2,500 miles from Charlottesville, this game is tied for the third-longest trip in school history.
• The longest is a journey of approximately 4,800 miles for the 2000 O’ahu Bowl in Honolulu, while the second longest was a trip to Seattle in 1976 (approximately 2,800 miles). UVa’s 2010 trip to USC also is tied for the third-longest trip at roughly 2,500 miles.
• This is the second of four straight years that UVa will play a regular season game west of the Mississippi River.
A Virginia Gentleman Leads UCLA
• UCLA’s Chancellor, Dr. Gene Block, spent nearly 30 years on the Grounds of the University of Virginia in myriad 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 and played baseball for the Cavaliers.

Virginia and the Rose Bowl
• Saturday’s game is Virginia’s first all-time contest at the Rose Bowl, but the Cavaliers regularly play in the only other venue to host a Rose Bowl game.
• ACC foe Duke plays its games at Wallace Wade Stadium, which hosted the 1942 Rose Bowl. After the Japanese’s attack at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the United States government had ordered that large public gatherings on the West Coast of the United States were prohibited for the duration of World War II, and the first significant canceled event was the Rose Bowl Game scheduled for New Year’s Day, 1942. Oregon State defeated host Duke, 20-16, at then-Duke Stadium in Durham, N.C.
• Virginia becomes the 23rd all-time college football team to play in the two venues that have hosted the Rose Bowl game.
• Alabama, Auburn, California, Duke, Florida State, Illinois, Indiana, Memphis, Miami, Michigan, Navy, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Oregon State, Pitt, Purdue, Rice, SMU, Stanford, Tennessee, Tulane and Washington are the other 22 teams.
• Of the 23 teams to play in both venues, only Memphis, Rice and Virginia have never appeared in the Rose Bowl game.

UVa Connections with the State of California
• The state of California supplied the fifth-most applicants to the University of Virginia for the Fall 2015 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 has not had one since 2009 when OLB Darren Childs (San Diego) was on Grounds.
• Offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild attended San Diego’s Patrick Henry High School. Other notable alumni from Patrick Henry High School are current Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Aaron Harang, 1998 Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams and actress Annette Benning.

Current Cavaliers with Rose Bowl Ties
• While Virginia has never played at the Rose Bowl before, a few Cavalier players and coaches have experience in one of college football’s most historic edifices.
• TE Charlie Hopkins made various trips to the Rose Bowl in the three seasons he played at Stanford, including two Rose Bowl games. Hopkins appeared in the 2014 Rose Bowl after Stanford’s 2013 Pac-12 championship season. He was on the sidelines, but didn’t play during the 2013 Rose Bowl game. Hopkins enters 2015 with two career catches. One of his career catches was against UCLA during the 2013 season. That game was played at Stanford.
• QB Connor Brewer spent two years at Arizona and the Wildcats played at UCLA last season. Brewer did not see any action in the game, but was on the sidelines.
• Special teams coordinator and tight ends coach Larry Lewis spent 10 years at Washington State and played in the Rose Bowl various times, including the Cougars’ 1998 Rose Bowl appearance. It was WSU’s first Rose Bowl appearance in 67 years.
• Offensive line coach Dave Borbely spent three seasons at Stanford (1995-97) and made the trip with the Cardinal in 1996 to the Rose Bowl to play UCLA.