Arizona Football Talk: Evaluating Noah Fifita

Hutchison has been covering Arizona for the last seven years, with his coverage spanning all across UA’s campus from football and men’s basketball to Title IX sports. Plus, with so many former Wildcats playing at the next level in their prospective sports there will be moments where he will take a deep dive into the Cats excelling outside of Tucson.

Last time on the field, Arizona (4-1, 1-1 Big 12) came out flat on the road against No. 14 Iowa State, falling behind 22 points before finding the end zone before half. The theme of game week for the Wildcats against Oklahoma State was starting on the right foot and getting back to basics.

Well, the Wildcats were able to flip the script from last week and jump out 14-3 over OSU (1-4, 0-2) with a balanced attack that saw an even split of 35 rushing yards and 35 passing yards on the first drive of the game.

From that point on, it was all Arizona as the Wildcats were able to get back on track with a solid 41-13 win over Oklahoma State.

The breakout star of the game for Arizona was wide receiver Tre Spivey, who was questionable coming into the day with an unknown injury but gave it a go anyway.

Spivey hauled in three catches for 80 yards and managed to score the first two touchdowns of the game to help the team get the offense going.

As a whole, the Wildcats saw six receivers record a catch, showing off the depth of the group that has been heavily criticized for their 11 dropped passes coming into the game.

Getting the ball to the playmakers fell on the shoulders of quarterback Noah Fifita, who was looking to have a bounce-back game himself after struggling against ISU.

Against OSU, Fifita had his ups with five touchdown passes and his downs with two turnovers that slowed down the offensive unit.

Still, Fifita was able to pass for 376 yards while going 28 of 38 on his passing attempts, which is an improvement from not only last week but from what we have seen this season.

The defensive unit for Arizona felt like it made mental mistakes against ISU last week and wanted to get back on the field. Now, the Wildcats' defense was able to get stingy against a Cowboys team that is going through a defensive change with a new coordinator.

Danny Gonzales’ unit was able to break out the turnover sword three times thanks to an interception, a fumble recovery and a game-sealing pick that led to the success on the field.

Although we saw Arizona get back on track against the Cowboys, there was still a unit that struggled, and it was once again the special teams squad that saw another missed field goal by Michael Salgado-Medina, a muffed punt (Arizona recovered), and a poor punt.

Still, that was the lone and major dark cloud from what was a highly successful game for the majority of the Wildcats' defensive and offensive units.

Now that the game is in the books, we at Arizona Wildcats On SI have put together our quarterback grade of Noah Fifita’s performance against Oklahoma State.

Against Oklahoma State, Fifita was able to rack up 376 yards while going 28 of 38 on his passing attempts. He put up five passing touchdowns for the second time this season and the fourth time in his career.

Grade: B+

Reason

• Overall, it was a good game for Fifita, who was able to make plays when the team needed it the most to secure the Wildcats’ fourth win of the season. Plus, he was able to complete 74% of his passes, raising his season average to 64% in five games.

• Still, Fifita had a hard time protecting the football with an interception where he overthrew an open receiver leading to the pick. Plus, he fumbled the ball on the 1-yard line, thus taking points off the board for the offense.

• It was a good day for Fifita that could’ve been much more productive. Still, he was able to get the job done to secure the win.