Noah Fifita’s ‘Incredible Poise’ Lifts Arizona Wildcats to Huge Victory
The Arizona Wildcats hadn’t beaten the Utah Utes in Salt Lake City since 2014. After three quarters, the Wildcats appeared to be in a position to do it.
Then, quarterback Noah Fifita threw an interception in the end zone. It gave the Utes new life in a game where, to that point, they had only scored three points.
Fifita was clearly disgusted. Up 16-3, that pass could have put the game out of reach. But that disgust didn’t last long. He went straight to an assistant coach and asked for the headset to talk to the coaches upstairs.
The Utes would eventually score to cut the lead to six points and he had to get ready for the next drive.
“He's a fierce competitor, right?” Arizona coach Brent Brennan said after the Wildcats’ 23-10 win. “So when he screws something up, he's really upset.”
The “smile” that Fifita wears most of the time, Brennan said, belies that competitiveness.
The next drive showed what Brennan called Fifita’s “incredible poise.”
Arizona was stuck at its own 13-yard-line after a penalty. He navigated them to the 25, but the Wildcats had to call a timeout facing 3rd-and-11.
The game was on the line. The offense had to find a way to convert or the Wildcats had to punt.
Fifita didn’t just move the chains, he dropped a 41-yard pass to Devin Hyatt that couldn’t have been better.
What he did three plays later was even more special.
The Wildcats were again facing 3rd-and-11, this time at the Utah 35. The stakes were a bit less extreme. Arizona could turn to Tyler Loop for a field goal, but it would be at least a 52-yarder. At minimum, the Wildcats hoped to make Loop’s job a bit easier.
Fifita wasn’t about to throw another interception, but he knew a touchdown would close out the game. Utah went with a four-man rush and still flushed Fifita to his right. On the run, he hurled what was essentially a 50-yard pass that hit Keyan Burnett in the back of the end zone for a touchdown.
🗣️ THAT'S OUR QUARTERBACK!!!
— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) September 29, 2024
And the first career touchdown for Keyan Burnett!
📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/9cjCqZ5otU
It was a brilliant throw. Burnett was either going to catch it or it was going to land incomplete. It was Burnett’s first career touchdown score.
Fifita threw for just 197 yards on Saturday. But those final 35 yards (officially) showed Fifita’s unshakable ability to make plays when it counts, Brennan said.
“I don't know how long that ball was, but 40 yards on the run you know? Maybe more with the end zone?” he said. “A 50-yard ball in a perfect spot right where Key can catch it right before it goes out of bounds. The kid’s special in every way, as a young man, as a teammate, as a leader and as a quarterback.”
