This season, it's up to Jason Johnson to lead Arizona through the desert and back into the promised land - a bowl game.

icture it: With a Rose Bowl berth on the line, the Wildcats trailing by a touchdown, Arizona will hinge 102 (or so) years of football inadequacy squarely on the shoulders of its starting quarterback ÷ a guy who hardly fits the stereotype of a hard-living gunslinger determined to lay it all on the line. So right about now is when some serious pressure sets in. [Read article]

Game 1 - Aug. 31 - Northern Arizona @ Arizona Stadium

Location: Flagstaff, Ariz.
2001 Record: 8-4 (5-2 Big Sky)
Enrollment: 20,000
Head Coach: Jerome Souers (fifth year)
Player to watch: WR Johnny Marshall

The Division I-AA Lumberjacks are one of the best teams in the Big Sky Conference. Last season, they finished second in the conference, earning a post-season playoff bid · NAU's roster features 43 former Arizona prep players - by far the most for any team in the country ·The Lumberjacks' strength lies in their wide receivers. Marshall is a former track athlete who can burn most corners in single coverage, and No. 2 receiver Clarence Moore is a beast at 6-foot-five. He boasts an 83-inch wingspan and a 33-inch vertical, making him a difficult matchup for all but the tallest corners. Unfortunately, the pair will have inexperienced juco transfer Clint Womack under center · Since 1957, the Lumberjacks have compiled a 7-34 record against Division I opponents, with their last victory coming against Tulsa in 1987. [Read article]

Pac-10 foes are challenging enough, but Rubio's squad also will take on difficult non-conference opponents

With the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation and four returning seniors from last year's Final Four team, one would think that a repeat performance would be easy for the Arizona women's volleyball team.

However, that is not the case as UA head coach David Rubio has compiled one of the nation's toughest schedules. [Read article]

Saragosa cleared to play, will only see limited action in team's first 3 games

The Arizona women's volleyball team leaves Thursday to begin the 2002 season, but they will be short handed in their first three games.

Senior middle blocker Stefani Saragosa will only be used in limited action due to a strain of her pectoral muscle.

Saragosa, originally thought to be inactive until the first week of September, has been cleared to play. [Read article]

Getting football tickets used to be a hassle. You had to stand in line in the sun and had to walk all the way down to the McKale Center box office. But now the UA marketing and corporate sales department has made it easier and more fun to get tickets. Today from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. a booth will be setup on the UA Mall selling and delivering season tickets.

"We just want to make it easier for the students," UA marketing specialist Matt Harrington said. "We have never had students pick up tickets outside of McKale." [Read article]

UA Director of Track and Field and Cross Country, Fred Harvey, has been nominated by USA Track & Field to serve as the head coach of Team USA's men's team for the 2003 Pan American Games.

Harvey was nominated along with Monica Gary, who will head up the women's team. Harvey's nomination has been submitted to the U.S. Olympic Committee, and once it is approved, he will guide the team at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in August 2003. [Read article]

NEW YORK ÷ While baseball negotiators intensified their meetings and commissioner Bud Selig made plans to travel to the labor talks, teams began pushing back travel plans to prepare for a possible strike Friday.

The Chicago White Sox called off their Thursday charter to Detroit and said they would travel Friday only if there isn't a walkout. Boston rescheduled its charter to Cleveland for Friday, too, but St. Louis will travel Thursday for the following day's game at the Chicago Cubs, which would be the first game affected by a strike. [Read article]