Noah Fifita threw a career-best five touchdown passes, and put himself in fourth place on Arizona’s all-time passing touchdowns list with 50 in a 48-3 win over Weber State on Saturday at Arizona Stadium.
Arizona capped off a 75-yard game-opening drive when Fifita connected with Javin Whatley on a 31-yard touchdown pass. On Arizona’s second drive, Fifita threw his longest touchdown pass of his career, an 85-yard pass to Whatley, to put Arizona up 14-0 and the Wildcats never looked back.
Fifita completed 17 of 22 passes for 353 yards.
Whatley caught five passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns. He was one of 12 receivers to catch at least one pass.
Arizona outgained Weber State 556-184 in the game.
Arizona’s defense recorded two sacks and forced two turnovers.
A 32-yard field goal from Michael Salgado-Medina extended Arizona’s lead to 17-0 in the first quarter, and an interception by Genesis Smith later in the quarter led to a 10-yard touchdown pass from Fifita to Tre Spivey, giving Arizona a 24-0 lead.
By halftime, Arizona had extended its lead to 34-0 off a 31-yard field goal from Salgado-Medina and a 13-yard touchdown pass from Fifita to Brandon Phelps. Fifita threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Ismail Mahdi, and Jay’vion Cole had a 27-yard interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter.
Backup quarterback Braedyn Locke took over for Fifita early in the third quarter.
Weber State’s lone score was a 33-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.
Saturday’s game marked the first-ever meeting between the two programs. The start was delayed about two hours because of lightning in the area.
Arizona hosts Kansas State (1-2) in a non-conference matchup on Sept. 12 at 6 p.m.
FOLLOW @KEVINMURFEE ON TWITTER! ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com writer Kevin Murphy was born and raised in Tucson, and has followed Arizona Wildcats athletics since childhood. Murphy is a journalist product manager with the Green Valley News the Sahuarita Sun. He has a bachelor’s degree from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU.
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