Noah Fifita’s greatest hits: The games that shaped the Arizona QB's legacy

There are countless memorable moments for Noah Fifita during his illustrious career at Arizona. 

In the nearly two years that Arizona head coach Brent Brennan has been working with the redshirt junior quarterback, the one memory that stands above the rest is when Fifita and former Arizona star receiver Tetairoa McMillan told Brennan that they were staying in Tucson for the 2024 season after the departure of former head coach Jedd Fisch. 

"I had been on the job for 48 hours and him and T-Mac shut the door to my office and told me they were going to stay," Brennan said.

Then, the quarterback-receiver tandem, along with several other Wildcats, announced their plans to stay at Arizona with a video played in a sold-out McKale Center during the first half of an Arizona-UCLA basketball game.  

"Now, there have been lots of other great moments — and some hard moments — in there," Brennan said. "That speaks to the journey of being a major college quarterback. It's not always fun times out there, it's hard.

"The demand is on him, the pressure, the public scrutiny, all of that stuff, and all that young man does is work his tail off, show up every single day, lead the team, get up in front of the media and take the bullets when it doesn't go right. He's everything that's right about it. There have been so many great moments with him in game or even after the game."

Brennan recently experienced both with Fifita on and off the field, when the Arizona quarterback led the Wildcats to an upset road victory over No. 25 Cincinnati and set the Wildcats' program record for career passing touchdowns, passing Nick Foles and Willie Tuitama.

Fifita completed 23 of 31 passes for 294 yards and a touchdown in the win over the Bearcats and said he’s “really grateful” for setting Arizona’s career passing touchdowns record.

“It’s a tremendous honor and I give all glory and praise to God,” Fifita said on Saturday. “We came to Cincinnati to get a win and that’s what we did. We’re going home as a team with a victory.”

During the post-game celebration at Nippert Stadium, "it was chaos in there and it was a super tight locker room."

"It was a lot of big people in a really small space," Brennan said. "But we had a big hug and the joy of that moment was really, really special." 

Fifita setting the school passing touchdowns record "was a pretty special moment for me," said first-year Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege. 

When Fifita threw his record-setting touchdown pass in the left corner of the end zone to freshman wide receiver Gio Richardson, which put the Wildcats ahead 27-17 in the fourth quarter, Doege had two thoughts. 

"When he delivered it, I thought, 'Game over,'" Doege said. "My next thought was, 'I'm so happy for him.' I love Noah Fifita like a little brother. I truly value him as family. It's just so fun to coach him. He's probably my biggest motivation coming into work every single day because I want to do good for him."  

Doege gave Fifita an emotional hug just outside of the visitors' locker room in Cincinnati, a moment that "was pretty special because I know both of us have been through a lot to get to this point."

"It's just fun to be in those moments with him," Doege said. "That touchdown, I know it meant a lot to him. You guys know him, he's so humble and he's not going to ever talk about it, but I know that meant something to him because he is a competitor. That was a big-time throw in a big-time moment with a lot of big-time meaning behind it. It's fun to be a part of his journey."

There have been several other memorable moments of Fifita's historic career in Tucson. Here are five performances that stand out.  

The birth of QB1

Date: Sept. 23, 2023

Score: Arizona 21, Stanford 20

Location: Stanford Stadium (Palo Alto, California)

The rundown: Fifita was a backup to former Arizona quarterback Jayden de Laura for a season-plus. Against Stanford in the Pac-12 opener, the Wildcats were in danger of losing despite being two-touchdown favorites. At the end of the third quarter, de Laura suffered an ankle injury after getting tackled near the Arizona sideline.

Fifita stepped in and completed all four of his pass attempts, including a third-down pass to running back Jonah Coleman to extend a drive in the fourth quarter and run out the clock. Fifita had 33 passing yards and 9 rushing yards in the touchdown drive that put Arizona ahead of Stanford.

Fifita became the starter for the remainder of the season.  

Fifita sets T Cup record

Date: Nov. 25, 2023

Score: Arizona 59, Arizona State 23

Location: Mountain America Stadium (Tempe)

The rundown: Fifita stamped his breakout regular season with a school- and Territorial Cup-record 527 yards, along with five touchdowns in a blowout win over rival ASU. 

Fifita’s 357 first-half yards were the most by a UA quarterback in a half since Anu Solomon against Cal in 2014. Fifita, Solomon and Tuitama are the only three quarterbacks in UA history to pass for over 500 yards in a game.

Fifita's top target was his longtime teammate and best friend in McMillan, who had 266 receiving yards on 11 catches. 

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Arizona's win over ASU in 2023 marked the largest margin of victory for the Wildcats in Tempe. The previous best was the Wildcats’ 35-0 win over the Sun Devils in 1953. 

Wildcats cap 10-win season at Alamo Bowl

Date: Dec. 28, 2023

Score: Arizona 38, Oklahoma 24

Location: San Antonio, Texas (Alamo Bowl) 

The rundown: Arizona's chances of beating Oklahoma in the Valero Alamo Bowl were looking grim until UA safety Gunner Maldonado returned a fumble recovery 87 yards for a touchdown — a momentum-shifting play that sparked the Wildcats at the end of the third quarter. 

The Wildcats trailed 24-21 and then outscored the Sooners 17-0 in the fourth quarter to end Arizona's breakout season in Fisch's third and final year at the helm. 

Fifita's personal statistics coincidentally matched the final score and the Arizona quarterback completed 24 of 38 passes for 354 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

Fifita ended his first season as Arizona's starter earning Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year and Football Writer’s Association of American National Offensive Freshman of the Year honors. 

Fifita passed for 2,869 yards, 25 touchdowns and six interceptions while completing 72.4% of his pass attempts — the only UA quarterback in program history to complete over 70% of his passes in a season.

With Fifita under center, the Wildcats ended the '23 season on a seven-game winning streak, the longest winning streak since the 1998 Holiday Bowl season. Arizona lost three games to Mississippi State, USC and national runner-up Washington by a combined 16 points. Arizona had five wins over ranked opponents. The '23 Arizona team is one of four UA teams to finish with 10 or more wins.   

UA takes down No. 10 Utah

Date: Sept. 28, 2024

Score: Arizona 23, No. 10 Utah 10

Location: Rice Eccles Stadium (Salt Lake City)

The rundown: Arizona's first official Big 12 game was on the road against a 10th-ranked Utah team that doesn't often lose at home. Before Arizona's upset win over Utah in 2024, the Wildcats hadn't won in Salt Lake City since 2014. 

Statistically, it wasn't Fifita's best performance. After Arizona made a change at offensive play-caller and gave the reins to tight ends coach Matt Adkins, Fifita completed 19 of 31 passes for 167 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. 

Fifita made critical throws on Arizona's touchdown drive that put the Wildcats ahead by two possessions in the fourth quarter. Fifita threw a 41-yard pass to receiver Devin Hyatt on third-and-11. Three plays later, Fifita launched a 35-yard touchdown to tight end Keyan Burnett, the only touchdown of Burnett's career at Arizona. 

It was Fifita's first start at Rice Eccles Stadium, where his uncle, Steve Fifita, was a standout defensive tackle under former head coach Urban Meyer, before playing in the NFL for the Miami Dolphins. 

Arizona's win over Cincinnati this month became the Wildcats' second win over a ranked opponent under Brennan — both were on the road. 

Fifita leads in gutty win over Kansas

Date: Nov. 8, 2025

Score: Arizona 24, Kansas 20

Location: Arizona Stadium

The rundown: Fifita's touchdown pass to running back Quincy Craig in the first half locked Fifita, Tuitama and Foles for a three-way tie for career passing touchdowns at Arizona. 

Even though that was Fifita's only passing touchdown of the game, the third-year starter made plays with his legs and had 20 rushing yards on the Wildcats' game-winning touchdown drive, which was punctuated by Craig's 24-yard touchdown run.

A few weeks prior, Fifita completed 24 of 26 passes (92.3%) for 289 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in the Wildcats' 31-28 loss to Houston, setting Arizona's single-game completion percentage record (with a minimum of 20 pass attempts). 

Fifita’s 92.3% completion rate is the third-best for a college quarterback on the road since 1996. The only two quarterbacks ahead of Fifita are Sean Renfree and Jameis Winston. Doege, who played at Texas Tech, is sixth on the list from his 40-of-44 performance against New Mexico in 2011.

Arizona beating KU and earning a bowl berth was the final game in the venue formerly known as Arizona Stadium. After going 4-8 in 2024, the Wildcats have an opportunity to flip their record — or finish the season on a similar note as the ’23 team.