Noah Fifita

#1 · QB · 5th-year · Arizona5′10″ · 190 lb · Huntington Beach, CA · Servite

ZPR6625th of 119 QBsHeismanNo. 17in our modelLast gameL 26–34at Texas Tech · Oct 31
Nextvs TCUFri Nov 6 · 10:15 pm ET
via arizonawildcats.com ↗

Graded Solid or better in each of the last two games.

Last game: L 26-34 at No. 13 Texas Tech, Oct 31 · 33 of 45 for 417 yards, a touchdown · 10 carries for -25 yards. Started all eight of Arizona’s games.

Arizona’s next game: vs TCU, Fri Nov 6, 10:15 p.m. ET · ESPN

Arizona is 6-2 in the eight games played. A precision passer.

Strongest: 9.2 yards an attempt, 16th best of 158 starters.

Passing yards

2,464

199 of 269, 74%

TD–INT

19–4

9.2 per throw

NCAA rating

171.3

10th of 119

ZPR

66

25th of 119

How ZPR works

Steady: solid or better in every start.

  • 300 or more passing yards in the last three games.
  • 0-2 against ranked teams, 324 passing yards a game.

Best by our grade: at West Virginia. Lowest: at Washington State, with 1 interception and sacked 3 times. Biggest game: at Texas Tech, No. 13.

Tap a game for its plays

Q1Q2Q3Q4

Season

Steady through the game

How to read this

Each column is a quarter. Blue and up is a good stretch for the quarterback, red and down a bad one, hatched means the game was already decided. A red cross is a turnover and a black dot a touchdown. The word on the right grades the whole game. A gold line means the r/CFB game thread kept naming the quarterback. Dashed outlines on the Season row are last season’s average. Tap a game to open its plays: each bar is one of the quarterback’s plays, up helped the team’s chance of winning and down hurt it, and the grey line is that chance.

The word grades the game against every FBS quarterback start, from Rough to Great, using the same throws as the season Zeitgeist Passer Rating and adjusting for the defense faced. Bars are points added per throw in that quarter. The Season row leaves out quarters after a game was decided.

Style of play

Precision passer

Why this word
Runs3.5 a gameRarelyA lot
Throws8.3 yards past the lineShortDeep
Completes74%FewerMore
Takes sacks8% of dropbacksRarelyOften

The dot is this quarterback, among this season’s starters; the tick is the middle.

Throws at a middling depth and runs some. 3.5 carries a game. Closest matches: Altmyer ’25, Minicucci, Jennings, Owens.

Where the throws go

Behind the line13%typical 17%
Short55%typical 47%
Middle17%typical 22%
Deep15%typical 14%

Runs 3.5 times a game; 61% of starters run more.

Closest in style

Altmyer ’25MinicucciJenningsOwensThis QB

Nearer the middle means more alike.

  • Altmyer ’25 Illinois 2025 · Chain-mover
    3,007 yards, 22 TD, 5 INT. Both take sacks and hit big plays.
  • Minicucci Delaware · Chain-mover
    1,477 yards, 14 TD, 4 INT so far. Both are efficient and rarely throw behind the line.
  • Jennings SMU · Precision passer
    2,433 yards, 21 TD, 5 INT so far. Both are efficient and complete a lot.
  • Owens Arkansas State · Precision passer
    1,940 yards, 11 TD, 6 INT so far. Both rarely throw behind the line and hit big plays.

Compared with the 158 FBS starters this season for throws and running, and with 219 quarterbacks across 2 seasons for the matches, on how they play and how they have done.

This week

  • RecordArizona is 6-2, No. 24 in the AP poll (week 10).
  • Fans after Texas Tech

    Fifita choking. You have to call a different play on first down though

    Arizona fan

What’s being said

10 stories this week, from 9 outlets.

Oct 29: 2Oct 30: 3Oct 31: 5L 26-34 at Texas TechLOct 29Nov 4Most in a day: 5
Oct 29: 2Oct 30: 3Oct 31: 5L 26-34 at Texas TechLOct 29Nov 4Most in a day: 5
Stories per day. W and L: the team’s results.

Texas Tech vs. Arizona Final Score Predictions: Can Joey McGuire & Red Raiders bounce back, or will Noah Fifita's dynamic QB play dominate?

A to Z Sports +1 Oct 29

All 97 stories this season

Worth knowing

  • Noah Fifita was first-team All-Big 12 in 2025.
  • Noah Fifita is rated 90 overall in EA College Football 27, tied for 8th among the game's quarterbacks.

His most important play this season

  1. Q2, 10:02 · Arizona down 4, takes the leadNoah Fifita finds Isaiah Mizell for a 94-yard touchdownArizona at Texas Tech, week 9Q2, 10:02 · Arizona 10, Texas Tech 794Ties the longest pass play of the season in the FBS94Ties the longest pass play of the season in the FBSTies the longest pass play of the season in the FBSN.Fifita pass complete deep right to I.Mizell caught at ARI46, for 94 yards to the TTU00 touchdown, 1ST DOWN, kick goodWatch from this playESPN College Football

All 14 of his plays on video

The story

As of

The story before the season wasn't whether Fifita would come back — he settled that the night of the loss to SMU, telling anyone listening he had unfinished business. It's the gap between how Arizona talks about him and how everyone else does. Brent Brennan calls him a 'Heisman-caliber candidate' and means it; CBS, On3 and SI all spent the spring arguing he's the Big 12's best quarterback, edging Brendan Sorsby and the new transfer arms for the top spot. He's the program's all-time passing touchdown leader (73 career scores, first nationally among 2026 returners) and the first Arizona QB to make first-team all-conference since 1975. And yet the national board has him at +10000 to win the Heisman — one writer literally headlined the disconnect 'He Can Win The Heisman. So Why Is Nobody Talking About Him?'

Read the rest of the story

The receipts say the 2025 bounce-back was real but not yet transcendent: 3,228 yards, 29 touchdowns, six picks, and play-by-play that ranks 64th percentile in pass success rate and 70th in touchdown rate but only 45th in EPA per dropback among 233 FBS quarterbacks. That's the tension our own signal flags — the buzz around Fifita (78th percentile perception) is running about 18 points ahead of the production (60th), an aura tax the fanbase is happy to keep paying.

The quietly important variable: Seth Doege returns as coordinator, the first time in Fifita's college career he's kept the same play-caller in back-to-back years. Doege's Air Raid is what turned a four-win team into a nine-win one, and year-two fluency is the whole bet. The forward stake is the one every Wildcats board is chewing on: does the loyalty finally get rewarded with a Big 12 title and a Heisman invite, or does 'all or nothing' end the way Arizona seasons usually do?

Update (Nov. 2, 2026): Through eight games Fifita has thrown for 2,464 yards, 19 touchdowns and 4 interceptions, and has run for 97 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Sources