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It happens like this every year. The countdown to college football ends with the first snap at the Rose Bowl, weeks before UCLA students’ summers end.

The Bruins welcome Utah on Sept. 2, long before Welcome Week and the first day of classes, which come a lot later for UCLA than most other schools. This translates to hurting the home-field advantage teams thrive on.

Because of the quarter system, the student section will only be a quarter full on Saturday.

Out-of-town students who buy sports packages miss out on two of the seven home games they pay for. With college students working on a budget, it is an incredibly frustrating inevitability that they are taking money out of their wallets for something they know they are not going to be able to use.

It is not good for the environment either. At a big sports school, the student section is what makes the stadium tick. When UCLA travels to South Bend, Ind., to take on Notre Dame at one of the legendary sites to see a game, the student section will be a big part of the home-field advantage.

For the Bruins at the Rose Bowl, a classic venue in its own right, students are just as important.

They are the loud ones. The crazy ones. The ones who mix three different shades of powder-blue face paint in the dorms and pick the best one on game day. They are also the ones who will be at home watching the game on television because school doesn’t start for a few weeks.

There is no evil mastermind behind the situation, but simply an unfortunate truth. UCLA does start later than most other schools, which leaves undergrad Bruins very happy for the most part, relaxing in September while Trojans are already taking midterms. Very happy, except when it comes to football.

There is a bright side however.

Both the Utah game on Sept. 2 and the Rice game on Sept. 9 are, in essence, preseason. The matchups are against weak, non-division opponents that the Bruins should be able to handle. They should beat Utah, and they should embarrass Rice. If they don’t, it is a really bad sign for the season. If either one of these games is close enough to be exciting, fans won’t want to come to home games even when they are in Westwood.

For that reason, Bruin fans shouldn’t be missing all that much in the end. The first home game that really matters for the Bruins is on Sept. 30, when Stanford comes to town.

The situation also has a silver lining for the players and the program. Players report to camp, train, and play their first two games before they start fall classes. It’s good for players because they can learn the system without being forced to do double duty between studying blitzes and biology. Players can focus on football, and by the time classes start, they know the football gameplan well enough that it allows them to think about their classes.

It works out for the program because coaches have players’ undivided attention during the summer, as well as their uncluttered schedules. The first two games are when a team implements what it has been practicing and solidifies an identity that it will have throughout the rest of the season. The Bruins will do that with nothing else on their plates, which bodes well for the product that will end up on the field.

While it is bad for students who can’t travel down to see games before the school year, it is a perennial truth and is not as bad as it initially seems. If the Bruins coming off a 10-2 year can put together a season worth watching, students will be there to see the games that count.

E-mail Gordon at bgordon@media.ucla.edu if you’ve already found the perfect shade of powder-blue face paint.

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