Noah Fifita has become one of the biggest reasons Arizona is suddenly being talked about as a legitimate Big 12 contender. Through the first part of the season, the Arizona quarterback has ranked 13th in the nation in total passing yards and has thrown only four interceptions, a sharp combination of volume and efficiency that has helped drive the Wildcats' rise.
That production has come during Arizona's three-game conference winning streak, when Fifita averaged 311 passing yards per game and Arizona averaged over 41 points a night. For a team that was not the center of the league conversation early on, that kind of offensive run has forced the rest of the Big 12 to take notice.
How Arizona got here
Early in the season, Arizona lost a close road contest to BYU, and through the first seven weeks of the season, Texas Tech and BYU were viewed as the two serious playoff contenders in the Big 12. Utah later became the highest-ranked Big 12 team in the polls and the only undefeated team left in the conference, while Oklahoma State and Houston were still ranked but each had two losses.
Arizona has worked its way into that discussion by stacking wins and scoring at a level that can travel. The Wildcats are 22nd in points allowed, but the more eye-catching number has been the offense: 12th in points per game, 17th in yards per completion, 9th in touchdowns and 13th in passer rating. Those numbers help explain why Arizona has gone from a team on the fringe of the race to one with a real path to the Big 12 title game.
What comes next for Arizona
This week, Arizona is scheduled to go on the road to play Texas Tech, which gives Fifita and the Wildcats a major test at the right time. From this week forward, Arizona has only one more ranked game left on the schedule, so the path is there if the Wildcats can keep winning.
That is what makes Fifita's season so important. Arizona does not need him to be flashy for the sake of it. It needs him to keep doing what he has done so far: move the ball, protect it, and keep the offense rolling against better competition. If he does that, Arizona's rise in the Big 12 will look a lot less surprising and a lot more sustainable.
