Passing for 10,000 yards in college football is not a defining statistic because there have been 167 quarterbacks who have done so. Noah Fifita, at 10,017 yards before Saturday's game at Washington State, is No. 167.
Comparisons? Sean Elliott scored 2,555 points for Arizona, which remains No. 62 on college basketball's career list. Elliott was No. 26 on the list when he left Arizona in 1989.
To get an Elliott-type historical identity, Fifita needs to break into the top 100, which, if he remains healthy, seems fully doable. Hall of Famer Drew Brees of Purdue ranks No. 99 in college football history after throwing for 10,909 yards at Purdue. Fifita should break into the Top 100 by Halloween. That would strengthen his legacy. It would put him ahead of Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Leinart, Doug Flutie and Caleb Williams.
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More important would be for Fifita to surpass Arizona's Bruce Hill, 1973-75, who was the UA's quarterback-of-record in 26 victories, a school record. Fifita had 25 victories entering the Wazzu game.
Arizona Wildcats quarterback Noah Fifita warms up prior to a game against the BYU Cougars at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Sept. 12, 2026.
Some have mistakenly reported that Ortege Jenkins is the UA's career leader in quarterback victories (with 28), but I researched Jenkins' game-by-game performances and his true career victory total is just 11 victories. How can there be confusion between 11 and 28 career victories?
From 1997-99, Jenkins shared the QB job with Keith Smith, a much better player. Upon inspection of those games, Smith was the QB-of-record in 15 victories and Jenkins just six. Their statistics in five games were too close to refer to either as the winning QB of record.
Here's how Fifita (25-18) stands in quarterback victories at Arizona:
– Bruce Hill, 26-7, from 1973-75
UA quarterback Nick Foles had more yards passing and TD passes than new Hall of Famer Jake Plummer in their college days.
– Alfred Jenkins, 24-10-1, from 1984-86
– Dan White, 22-11, from 1993-95
– Tom Tunnicliffe, 22-15-1, from 1980-83
– Willie Tuitama, 20-20, from 2005-08
– Eddie Wilson, 19-10-1, from 1959-61
– Nick Foles, 16-19, from 2009-11
In the Big 12, Fifita has a chance to climb into the top five in career passing yards, with close to 12,000 yards, which would also cement his legacy, separating himself from Hill, White, Tunnicliffe and Wilson as the best quarterback in Arizona history. As of today, it's a close call. I would choose Tunnicliffe, who helped build Arizona into a Top 25 program in the early '80s, with victories over No. 1 USC, No. 2 UCLA, No. 4 ASU and No. 9 Notre Dame.
No other UA quarterback can match Tunnicliffe's historic victories over Top 10 teams. That's a challenge that awaits Fifita, who is 5-10 against Top 25 clubs.
Each Big 12 school has its own “Noah Fifita.” Here's a list, in order, of each Big 12 team's career passing leader:
– 19,217, Case Keenum, Houston, 2007-11
– 15,793, Graham Harrell, Texas Tech, 2005-08
– 13,618, Mason Rudolph, Oklahoma State, 2014-17
– 12,170, Brock Purdy, Iowa State, 2018-21
– 11,689, Kedon Slovis, BYU, 2019-23
– 11,662, Geno Smith, West Virginia, 2009-12
– 11,453, Gino Guidugli, Cincinnati, 2001-04
– 11,194, Todd Reesing, Kansas, 2006-09
– 10,976, Ryan Schneider, UCF, 2000-03
– 10,728, Trevone Boykin, TCU, 2012-15
– 10,617, Andrew Walter, ASU, 2001-04
– 10,366, Robert Griffin III, Baylor, 2008-11
– 10,017, Fifita, Arizona, 2022-26
– 9,763, Sefo Liufau, Colorado, 2011-14
– 9,752, Adrian Martinez, Kansas State, 2018-22
– 8,981, Scott Mitchell, Utah, 1987-89
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