On Wednesday, Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne announced that the football team’s game at UNLV will “likely” move to Glendale, Ariz.
In his weekly Wildcat Wednesday email, Byrne said that UNLV athletic director Jim Livengood, Byrne’s predecessor at Arizona, approached the UA about moving the Rebels’ Sept. 7 game from Las Vegas to University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals.
Byrne said the contract hasn’t been signed, but that the game moving is “a good possibility.”
Livengood announced his retirement from UNLV Wednesday, effective June 30 but that is not expected to
halt the deal.
Livengood told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the Rebels will receive “way north of” the $750,000 UNLV was paid for their 2010 trip to West Virginia.
If the game does move, then Arizona will not have to leave the state until Sept. 28 when they travel to Washington. The UA hosts Northern Arizona Friday August 30 before the match against UNLV. They then host Texas-San Antonio on Sept. 14.
Several weeks ago Arizona announced that they will play BYU in Glendale in 2016.
Bruschi elected to Hall of Fame
Former UA star Tedy Bruschi was selected to the College Football Hall of Fame Tuesday.
Bruschi is the fourth Wildcat to be enshrined in the hall of fame, joining Ricky Hunley (1998), Chuck Cecil (2009) and Rob Waldrop (2011).
He played on the defensive line at Arizona from 1991 to 1995. The UA led the nation in scoring defense in 1992 and in rushing defense in 1993.
The stout run defense helped carry the UA to a 29-0 Fiesta Bowl victory against Miami, with Bruschi winning the game’s MVP award.
Bruschi tied for the most sacks in NCAA history with 52, was a consensus All-American in 1994 and a unanimous All-American in 1995.
In 1995, Bruschi won the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year award and the Morris Trophy as the conference’s best defensive lineman. He was named All-Pac-10 three times and had 74 tackles for loss, sixth most in FBS history.
After college, Bruschi won three Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and lost another after returning from a mild stroke in 2005. He was named the Associated Press’ Comeback Player of the Year that season.
He now works as an NFL analyst for ESPN.
New uniforms debut
The wait is over — Arizona football finally debuted their new uniforms.
The jerseys feature red and blue stripes that create a gradient or sunset effect, which is also present inside the numbers. Above the numbers on the front is the Arizona script logo and above that is the block “A.”
Arizona will have red, white and blue jerseys and pants and four helmets, red, white, blue and copper, to go along with the three shirts and three pairs of pants.
Byrne said the delay was due to the UA waiting to get a waiver from the NCAA to allow them to use the gradient numbers for the 2013 season.
