Analyzing Noah Fifita's Bounce-back Season with Arizona
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After a disappointing 4-8 season and the departure of your top weapon and best friend, it might be easy for any talented quarterback to pick up and look elsewhere to continue their career.
However, Noah Fifita stood his ground and planted in Tucson for year two under coach Brent Brennan. He bet on himself, and it turned out to be the right call. Arizona made some big additions in the transfer portal and helped the Arizona offense improve enough to secure a 9-3 record and a trip to the Holiday Bowl against SMU.
For much of the season, new offensive coordinator Seth Doege called upon Fifita to shoulder the weight of the offense with big plays downfield and escaping pass rushers with bad intentions in the backfield.
That led to a couple of close losses, where Arizona couldn't make enough plays to score down the stretch of games. Those losses came back to hurt the Wildcats, as they could have wound up in the Big 12 Championship Game if a couple of plays had different outcomes.
Still, Arizona finished the season on a five-game winning streak with a victory over rival Arizona State in the Territorial Cup. Fifita played a big role in those wins, but Arizona definitely found more balance with the ground game later in the season.
Let's take a look back at Fifita's season in Tucson.
Noah Fifita's 2025 Season
Make no mistake, Fifita had a disappointing 2024 campaign. As a sophomore, Fifita threw for 2,958 yards and 18 touchdowns, but led the Big 12 with 12 interceptions. Even with star wideout Tetairoa McMillan in the mix, Fifita could never seem to find a rhythm, and a lot was asked of him without a ton of talent around him, besides McMillan.
In his third season as a starter, Fifita was back to the star Arizona fans expect. He threw for 2,963 yards, 26 touchdowns and only five interceptions, while completing 64.2% of his passes. In a season with plenty of talented passers in the Big 12, Fifita wound up on first-team All-Big 12 at the end of the season.
Fifita also became Arizona's new program leader in all-time touchdown passes. He surpassed former Wildcats Nick Foles and Willie Tuitama with his 68th career touchdown pass in a road game at Cincinnati. He finished the regular season atop the leaderboard with 70 touchdown passes.
Arizona could rely on its junior quarterback to push the action downfield and make the big play. Fifita logged 21 "big-time throws," according to Pro Football Focus, which tracks passes with excellent ball location and timing downfield into tight windows.
GOIN' DEEP@javinwhatley6 gets a foot in for his second score of the half. pic.twitter.com/bPPPA5QmFL
— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) November 2, 2025
Fifita was on target when testing opposing secondaries. He threw only one interception outside of the numbers on throws 10 or more yards downfield, while tossing six touchdowns on such throws. On deep balls, the signal caller was never picked off on throws of 20 yards or more, posting eight touchdowns and 15 big-time throws. He had only one turnover-worthy play.
There's only one game left for Fifita to boost his marks this season. Arizona will travel to San Diego to take on SMU in the Holiday Bowl, and Fifita could have a good chance to improve against the Mustangs' defense. SMU has the second-worst pass defense in the ACC, allowing 284.7 passing yards per game.
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Logan Brown is an alumnus of the prestigious Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He currently works as a General College Sports Reporter On SI. Logan has an extensive background in writing and has contributed to Cronkite Sports, PHNX Sports, and Motion Graphics.
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