Six yards, and a record changes hands
Noah Fifita needed one more completion. He got it with about six minutes left, a 7-yard throw to Isaiah Mizell, and Arizona had a new career passing leader.
Fifita now sits on 10,017 yards. Nick Foles held the mark from 2009 to 2011 and finishes six yards behind. Three years of work, settled by a short pass in a nonconference game nobody circled.
The fifth-year senior went 31 of 34 for 325 yards on Saturday night in Tucson. Four touchdown passes, one rushing score, and a completion rate that also broke Foles’ school record for any game of at least 30 attempts.
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Six minutes of trouble, then 42 unanswered points
Northern Illinois opened with a 38-yard JJ Schlenhardt field goal, forced a three-and-out, then went ahead 10-0 on a 52-yard Taron Dickens pass to Cam Thompson. Six minutes in, the Wildcats looked like the wrong team on the scoreboard.
They scored the next 42 points.
Chris Hunter caught a 38-yarder midway through the first quarter. Mizell’s 14-yard reception put Arizona in front with 11:13 left in the second. Tre Spivey added a 10-yard score, and Caleb Smith took a punt back 69 yards, the program’s first punt return for a touchdown since 2017. Halftime read 28-10.
Tyler Powell’s 3-yard catch six minutes into the third stretched the gap. Fifita ran one in himself from 30 yards early in the fourth, then found Mizell for the record. Elijah Porter’s 1-yard run with 13 seconds left ended the shutout run and set the final at 42-17.
What it sets up
Arizona moves to 2-1 and travels to Washington State on Sept. 26, a former Pac-12 rival on a schedule that carries fewer of those every year. Dickens finished with 228 yards and a touchdown on 25-of-37 passing for Northern Illinois, now 0-3, with Dearee Rogers catching 10 balls for 68 yards. The Huskies stay on the road at Georgia State next week.
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