With 4:48 left against Northern Illinois, Noah Fifita completed a 7-yard pass to Isaiah Mizell, pushed his career total to 10,017 yards and passed Nick Foles' 10,011 from 2009-11. Brent Brennan had left him in with the game long decided to let it happen in Tucson. "I just felt that, as a program we owed it to him to give him a chance to do that here." By then Arizona had scored 42 unanswered points in a 42-17 win, and the parts of the night that still matter this week had all happened earlier. Northern Illinois led 10-0 inside six minutes, and Fifita was sacked four times.
Brennan did not dress up the protection problem. "There was just a ton of pressure and a ton of unique pressure, and that's obviously something we got to work on," he said, after the Huskies got to Fifita twice on the opening possession alone. Four sacks were the one real blemish on a night when Fifita otherwise completed 31 of 34 throws for 325 yards and four touchdowns. Washington State's defense is coordinated by Trent Bray, whom Brennan calls "a really good friend of mine" and whose defense Brennan flatly describes as physical.
The secondary is the part to watch
Dwight Bootle was ruled out before the Northern Illinois game and Tyrese Boss started at corner in his place. On the first play of a Huskies drive, Cam Thompson beat Boss for a 52-yard touchdown that made it 10-0. Brennan said Bootle was banged up last week with Boss again atop the depth chart, and Daylen Austin is out for the season, and Brennan called it "really unfortunate."
Arizona did not force a turnover against NIU. The front is doing its share, two sacks, but nothing comes back the other way. The encouraging read is that the defense settled once it got physical after the first two drives; defensive back Lee Molette III said Arizona "didn't come ready to go" early. Washington State just ran for 316 yards against Duquesne with two 100-yard backs, against an Arizona defense allowing 75.7 rushing yards per game. That is the week's real collision. If the Cougars can hand off effectively, play-action off it is exactly how a short-handed secondary gets beaten deep again.
What else to keep an eye on
Giovanni Richardson misses another game if he cannot go, with still no diagnosis or return date reported. Against NIU, Arizona simply spread the ball to 11 receivers rather than handing the slot to one man, and Brennan's only comment was that "Gio is a big-time receiver for us, can't wait for him to get back." Fifita's efficiency did not suffer, so the question is whether that works against a Power Four defense.
Arizona opened as a 12.5-point road favorite, the biggest nonconference road number the Wildcats have carried since a 25-point spread at UTEP in 2017, and Arizona is 0-3 against the spread this season. Brennan pointed out that Arizona is the first Power Four team to visit Pullman this year, which is another way of saying the Cougars have been waiting for a measuring game. The last time these teams met, Arizona won 44-6 in Pullman in Fifita's first win as the starter. He returns as the program's all-time passing leader; nothing else about either roster is the same.
The game
Arizona at Washington State, Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Arizona time on CBS. The model gives Arizona a 52% chance to win, which is a far tighter read than the spread. Arizona's playoff odds sit near 2.9% with a win and near 1.2% with a loss, small numbers either way, but the season's shape depends on arriving at Big 12 play next week against Cincinnati at 2-2 or 3-1.
The satisfying version of Saturday is not a scoreline. It is Fifita upright, a running game that forces Bray to stop honoring the pass, and somebody in that secondary finally coming down with a football. Full details at the interactive guide, with the methodology here.