Sometime shortly after 3:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, a stripe-shirted referee will blow a whistle in the famed Rose Bowl in Los Angeles, a crowd of more than 90,000 people will roar and a player’s toe will meet football to kick off the University of Virginia’s 126th football season.

U.Va.’s opponent will be the University of California, Los Angeles, which the Associated Press pegged as the13^th-best team in the nation in its preseason poll. The fabled Bruins are among several imposing teams on the Cavaliers’ schedule, which continues the following week with Notre Dame’s first trip to Scott Stadium and also includes games against nationally ranked Boise State University; Atlantic Coast Conference powers Georgia Tech, Miami and Louisville; and, of course, the season-concluding battle with archrival Virginia Tech.

Learn more about the Cavaliers’ preparations at virginiasports.com, including:

• The game notes distributed to the media at the weekly pregame press conference;
• Columnist Jeff White’s take on Matt Johns, anointed as the team’s starting quarterback;
• Video of head coach Mike London and several players talking about the UCLA game;
• And a remembrance of former Cavalier great Tom Scott, who died Aug. 31, and is regarded as one of the most versatile athletes ever to walk the Grounds.

The game will also serve as the centerpiece for the Western Wahoo Weekend, the reprise of a 2010 event (centered around a football game against the University of Southern California) that attracted 1,200 alumni and friends.