‘Pissed-off’ Arizona QB Noah Fifita closing in on UA football history

In Arizona’s 28-17 loss to No. 15 BYU in Provo, Fifita was overtaken by the emotions of losing the first game of his last season quarterbacking the Wildcats.

Fifita, with a towel draped over his head, was being consoled by his mother, Winnona, near the Arizona locker room.

When the red-eyed Fifita spoke to reporters after the game, the Arizona quarterback said “a lot of things” led to his emotions being on display after the loss to BYU.

“There’s a lot of plays that I wish I could have back,” said Fifita, who completed 23 of 31 passes for 230 yards, a touchdown and an interception. “There’s a lot of things that I wish I could have back, some decisions, some throws. I thought we were going to come out victorious, but God doesn’t make mistakes. I’m going to learn, but I’ll take the blame for this one, especially offensively.”

The empathetic Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege felt his quarterback’s pain. In that moment, Fifita didn’t need a coach; he needed a friend — and someone to boost his confidence. Doege did that.

“We’re our worst critics,” Doege said. “There’s nothing anybody could say to us that’s going to match what we’re thinking in our mind. After the game, when I saw him down, there’s times where I grabbed him and said, ‘Hey, we need to play better.’ That wasn’t one of them. He missed three throws. We’re not in that game without Noah Fifita.

“That’s a top-10 opponent with who knows how much money was spent on that defense, and Noah was out there dealing. … I told him, ‘Man I know you’re going to be hard on yourself here, but you’re the only reason we were in that game. You played like a warrior and we trust you and believe in you. I know this one hurts, but let’s get ready and go win the next 10 (games), because we’re capable. With you behind center, we’re capable.’ I know he was hurting.”

Doege sent “two long text messages (to Fifita) when I got home, just to make sure that he knew that he is the guy that is going to lead us to something special this year,” said the Arizona offensive coordinator.

“I don’t care that we dropped one at BYU,” Doege added. “Sure, we did. We’ll own that and fix that. But you’re still Noah Fifita and you’re still the guy that’s going to help us win and get to a Big 12 championship. I believe that and so does he. … He’s a little bit pissed off. I like the pissed-off version of Noah Fifita.”

Fifita was engulfed by the “hurricane of expectation” and the aspirations to lead the Arizona football program to unprecedented heights, like a Big 12 championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff.

“Noah Fifita probably feels a lot of expectation going into this year,” Doege said. “Well, there’s probably a little bit (of pressure) off him now. That’s a weird way to say it. We don’t want a participation trophy; we’re not looking for any excuses, anything like that. But there’s probably a little bit of pressure off, like, ‘OK, I don’t have to win them all now.’ And he wanted to win them all — so did I — and I wanted that for him.

“Our goal now is to make sure we face those dudes again (in the Big 12 championship) and the only way to do that is we gotta attack it one game at a time. I think Noah is right on it. He’s the guy that’s going to do it and I believe in him more than I’ve ever believed in someone in my life.”

Arizona’s offense was stagnant in the second half against BYU. After having the advantage in every offensive category in the first half, BYU flipped the script and held the Wildcats to a scoreless second half for the first time in two years.

After the loss of wide receiver Giovanni Richardson, who went down with a “lower-extremity injury” in the first quarter, Arizona’s wide receivers combined for 10 catches for 87 yards — 30 of those yards were from a catch-and-run by Brandon Phelps. Arizona’s offensive line had five of the Wildcats’ seven penalties, and Arizona rushed for minus-2 yards in the second half.

“Obviously it’s not what you want,” Doege said. “That’s not what we talked about. We talked about playing hard and doing our job. We go out there in the second half and have these self-inflicted sins, these penalties that put us off track.”

Added Doege: “You think I want to go in there and lose a game and call bad plays? No. I want to win the game and win the game for Noah Fifita. It hurt us all. At the end of the day, we didn’t get it done. We gotta find a way to respond and move forward. I think Noah is going to do a great job and I think there’s a chip on his shoulder now.”

Fifita is close to making UA football history and needs 320 yards to pass Nick Foles — the only player in program history to receive Super Bowl MVP honors — as the school’s all-time passing yards leader. Fifita could conceivably set the record on Saturday, when the Wildcats host winless Northern Illinois at Casino Del Sol Stadium.

Fifita, who passed Willie Tuitama for the second-most passing yards in the season opener against Northern Arizona, has 9,692 yards.

“That’s unbelievable,” said Arizona tight end Cole Rusk. “There’s nobody more deserving than him. … He’s an unbelievable human being and he cares about this program, this community and everything involved with this. That would be really awesome. I’m blessed to be a part of that if I get the chance to be out there with him when that happens.”

Fifita, who also owns Arizona’s career touchdowns record, isn’t worried about personal records.

“I only focus on the team record,” he said. “There’s a lot of team goals that I want to accomplish. To be completely honest, I hope I don’t talk to media for the rest of the year, because that means we’re doing something right.”

Arizona is a five-touchdown favorite to beat NIU. It’s expected to be a blowout win for the Wildcats. In the event of Fifita being close to the record, but the game is out of reach for NIU, will the Wildcats keep the quarterback in to get the record?

“I’m going to do whatever our head coach tells us to do,” Doege said. “That’s what I’m going to do.”

When Doege was a junior at Texas Tech in 2011, he unknowingly set the FBS record for single-game completion percentage with a minimum of 40 attempts. Doege completed 40 of 44 passes (90.9%) for 401 yards and five touchdowns in a 59-13 win over New Mexico.

When the Texas Tech coaches realized Doege was within reach of the record, they inserted him back into the game late in the second half. Doege threw a simple screen pass to secure the record.

“There was no reason for me to go back in the game,” Doege said. “They put me back in the game to throw a quick screen and then they took me out. I said, ‘What was that about?’”

If Fifita is within 5 yards of the record, Doege is “sure I can convince Coach (Brent) Brennan, ‘Hey, can we throw a quick out real quick to get him over the mark?’ ”

“I think that would be big-time for him,” Doege said of Fifita. “Here’s the thing about Noah: he’s not worried about that. He’s worried about winning the game and that’s what makes him special.”

Extra points

— Arizona running back and five-for-five player Ismail Mahdi, who was cleared to play following a temporary restraining order against the NCAA, is expected to play on Saturday against NIU, Doege said. Mahdi, who led the Wildcats in rushing yards last season, “gives us another dimension and something we use going forward,” Doege said.

— The Arizona-NIU game is “Hispanic Heritage Night.” Fans are encouraged to wear red.