After becoming Arizona’s all-time leader in passing yards, Noah Fifita has been named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week. It his third time earning the honor, with the others coming last season after wins against Oklahoma State and Colorado.
*Stats vs Northern Illinois: 31-34, 325 yds, 4 passing touchdowns; 30-yard rushing touchdown
*Season stats: 77-95 (81.05%), 834 passing yards, seven passing touchdowns; 66 rushing yards, two rushing touchdowns.
Fifita shares the honor this week with West Virginia quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. Not only did he take down Nick Foles’ career passing yards record, one that stood for 15 years, Fifita also broke Foles’ record for single-game completion percentage with a minimum of 30 completions.
After he officially broke the record, Arizona played a prerecorded video from Foles where he congratulated Fifita on breaking yet another one Foles’ records. Last season, against Cincinnati, Fifita broke the all-time passing touchdown record that was shared by Foles and Willie Tuitama.
It’s very rare for these types of records to be broken. It becomes even more impressive when a player breaks it while staying at one school, given the state of college football today. It’s one aspect of Fifita’s career that his coach Brent Brennan believes is not talked about enough.
“So many other people have jumped ship and taken the money or gone to something different, or would look for something new, or the grass is always greener,” Brennan said after Saturday’s game. “That guy stayed here and watered the grass here and made it into something truly special.”
Fifita’s name can be seen almost everywhere now in the Arizona record book. He owns the all-time passing yards record, all-time passing touchdowns record, the single season passing touchdown record (29, 2025), and has the most passing yards in a single game record (527, 2023).
Arizona heads on the road to play an old Pac-12 opponent in Washington State. The last time these two schools played, Fifita earned his first win as starting quarterback for the Wildcats (44-6, 2023).
