What is known: Michigan opens its 2010 season and rededicates a renovated Michigan Stadium at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. Among the unknown: Will (from left) Tate Forcier, Devin Gardner or Denard Robinson take the first snap?

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

WHO: Connecticut (0-0) at Michigan (0-0)

WHERE: Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor

WHEN: 3:30 p.m., Saturday

ODDS: Michigan is favored by 2 1/2 points, according to sportsbook.com

BROADCAST INFORMATION: TV: ABC/ESPN2; Radio: Michigan Sports Network (WTKA-1050 AM, Sirius Ch. 125, XM Ch. 102)

RUNDOWN: Nationally, it's being called "one of the more intriguing opening-week matchups" of the college football season. Around Ann Arbor, it's the first chance to answer myriad questions.

Whether it's as simple as "Who starts at quarterback?" or as complex as "Will Michigan return to national relevance?" or anything in between, the answers begin to take form when Michigan and Connecticut kick off at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

AnnArbor.com has been previewing the game and the season for weeks (months?), and will continue to do so right up until we begin our live chat on game day. But before we get into the on-the-field nitty-gritty, there are plenty of subplots surrounding the season opener.

STADIUM RENOVATION
The university will rededicate Michigan Stadium after the completion of a four-year, $226 million renovation project. We take a deep look at the revamped stadium, which opens for business on Saturday.

Our live game chat will begin early this week -- at 2 p.m. ET -- with news reporter David Jesse joining us to talk about the stadium renovations.

Photographers from AnnArbor.com and The Ann Arbor News have captured images of the ongoing project throughout the renovation. Watch things take shape in this photo slideshow:

MORE GAME-DAY STORIES

• Football season starts before all of summer’s road work has come to an end, which could make navigating Ann Arbor on game days trickier for motorists.
• In-stand vending returns to the Big House this season.
• With 110,000 people attempting to make calls, text and surf the Web in a few-block radius, cell phone usage has been a problem on game days. Companies have tried to fix the problem. Will it be enough?

Brock Mealer

With all the hype surrounding the new season and new stadium, perhaps the most significant moment of Saturday's game day experience will be as simple as a young man taking a walk.

But it's not so simple. Brock Mealer, the brother of Michigan offensive lineman Elliott Mealer, will lead the team out of the tunnel before kickoff. Brock was told he'd never walk again after a car accident. But that was before the Michigan strength and conditioning coaches got their hands on him.

Pete Bigelow's touching feature on the Mealer family and how the Michigan football program embraced them is a must-read. You'll learn why you shouldn't be surprised to see a red-tailed hawk soaring high above the stadium.

ON THE FIELD
Now that you know the background behind the game, it's time to take you to the field. Here is a compilation of Michigan football-related stories we've published this week.

FRIDAY

• Desmond Conner of the Hartford Courant took a few minutes to chat with AnnArbor.com about Connecticut football and what fans should expect to see.
  
• AnnArbor.com's Pete Bigelow and Mike Rothstein preview Saturday's game -- predicting the winner, and Michigan's starting quarterback -- on the first of our weekly video reports.
  

THURSDAY

• Wide receiver Darryl Stonum wants to prove he is prepared to live up to his big-play potential.
  
• Jeff Arnold's Q&A with freshman punter Will Hagerup includes a discussion about the youngster keeping in touch with Zoltan Mesko, the All-American he's replacing in the Michigan lineup.
  

• UConn quarterback Zach Frazer, a former Michigan recruit, took the long road -- including a stop in South Bend -- to play Michigan Stadium.
• Running back Mike Shaw learns he'll be academically eligible for the season, but Fitzgerald Toussaint will be held out of the opener because of a lingering knee injury. (Plus bonus notes on the quarterbacks and an injury report).
• This is also the day, of course, that the Big Ten announced its divisional alignments. Find all the links to our coverage of that topic below.

TUESDAY

• How did Rich Rodriguez fair against UConn while he was coaching in the Big East? He went 4-0, and none of those games were particularly close.
  
• In our "Catching Up With ... " feature, Mike Rothstein visits with former Michigan tailback Tim Biakabutuka. Was Biakabutuka's 313-yard performance against Ohio State the Wolverines' best ever? Vote in our poll.
  

MONDAY

• The biggest surprise when Michigan released its first depth chart of the fall was true freshman Carvin Johnson listed as the starter at the hybrid linebacker position.
  
• Brandon Graham is a starting defensive end for the Philadelphia Eagles after a dominant year in a Michigan jersey last season. Who picks up the slack? Mike Rothstein says it'll have to be by committee.
  
• Pete Bigelow's Monday notebook touched on Michigan's starting quarterback battle, the running back situation and previewed some true freshmen who might see playing time.
  
• As of Monday, Rich Rodriguez wasn't revealing who would start at quarterback, but he did say that freshman Devin Gardner would "probably not" take a redshirt season.
  
• Jeff Arnold shot some video of Rodriguez's Monday press conference.
  

SUNDAY

• What's the best-case scenario for this Michigan team? Beat writer Pete Bigelow looks into his crystal ball and sees an 8-4 record and a spot in the Gator Bowl ... if everything goes just right.
  
• Here are the Top 5 things we think we learned about Michigan during summer camp.
  
• A liability at times last season, the Michigan offensive line has evolved into one of the team's strengths.
  
• Those same offensive linemen helped us take a closer look at Michigan's running backs.
  
• And, finally, Bigleow breaks down the schedule and takes a look at Michigan's "reasons for optimism" and "reasons for worry" against each team.
  

BIG TEN DIVISIONS
As if getting ready for a new season didn't create enough football-related content this week, the Big Ten went ahead and announced its new divisional alignment. Here's a roundup of our coverage:

• The future looks much like the past for Michigan, including its annual end-of-season battle with Ohio State.
• Mike Rothstein discusses the winners (Jim Delany and Michigan State among them) and losers (Wisconsin, Purdue, Iowa) in the alignment shuffle.
• Rothstein also opines that the Big Ten got the divisional alignment right because it listened to the fans.
• With its upcoming Big Ten schedules now set, Michigan can start focusing on its non-conference opponents.
• AnnArbor.com ran a live chat from Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon's press conference. You can find the transcript here.
• On the night of the announcement, local fans were mostly supportive of the changes.
• How do you feel about the new divisions? You can still vote in our poll.
• We also compiled a roundup of division-related links to other news outlets in Big Ten markets.

AROUND THE BIG TEN

• Three Big Ten teams opened their seasons with Thursday night games. Click on the score and we'll take you to a game report: Ohio State 45, Marshall 7; Minnesota 24, Middle Tennessee State 17; Indiana 51, Towson 17.
• The conference's other games include Western Michigan at Michigan State, Illinois at Missouri, Eastern Illinois at Iowa, Northwestern at Vanerbilt, Youngstown State at Penn State, Purdue at Notre Dame and Wisconsin at UNLV. Details and a preview of each game can be found here.

A LITTLE FUN ... FOR A CAUSE

And, finally, a little fun. The FunnyorDie.com team filmed the following video at the Greise/Hutchison/Woodson Champions for Children's Hearts Weekend golf outing.