Football News

After Tetairoa McMillan and Jacob Manu each earned Freshman of the Week honors for Arizona last season, Noah Fifita '22 has claimed the award as well, winning it back-to-back weeks for the Wildcats! 

All three Friars were a force to be reckoned with at Servite helping lead the team to the CIF Finals their senior year while earning individual League MVP honor

AZWildcats.com

TUCSON, Ariz. – University of Arizona Football quarterback Noah Fifita has earned his second straight Pac-12 Freshman of the Week Honors after leading the Wildcats to a 44-6 win over No. 19 Washington State Saturday.

Noah Fifita earns Freshman of the Week in the Pac-12 for the second week in a row after completing 34-of-43 passes for 342 yards and guiding the Wildcats to their largest margin of victory over a ranked opponent on the road in program history. This honor marks the second Pac-12 weekly award for Arizona, both being awarded to Fifita. 

The redshirt freshman from Huntington Beach finished with a career-high completion percentage of 79.1%. Fifita passed for 342 yards marking the most without a touchdown by an Arizona quarterback since at least 1996 (previous: 314 yards, Khalil Tate vs. Houston, 2018). On the season, Fifita has completed 75.0% of his passes for 946 yards and eight touchdowns alongside just two interceptions. 

The Wildcats offense, guided by Fifita, scored on each of their first four possessions against Washington State (TD, FG, TD, FG), the first time they have accomplished that feat since a matchup against Oregon State in 2019 (FG, FG, TD, TD).

The first time Fifita earned this honor was after a triple-overtime loss to USC in Week 6. He completed 25-of-35 passes for 303 yards and five touchdowns marking career highs in yardage and touchdown passes for the redshirt freshman. Fifita's five touchdown passes are the most ever thrown by an Arizona quarterback against a ranked opponent.

Fifita wins the award in back-to-back weeks, the first Arizona player to do it and the first Pac-12 player to win back-to-back Freshman of the Week awards since Oregon State RB Damien Martinez in the final 2 weeks last season. He became the 2nd Arizona player to win this award twice in the same season (award created in 2019).  Tetairoa McMillan won it twice last season.

Arizona now takes a BYE week prior to hosting No. 12 Oregon State (6-1, 2-1 Pac-12) at Arizona Stadium on Oct. 28. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. MST., and the matchup will be televised on ESPN.