Noah Fifita passed for three touchdowns and 300 yards as Arizona won its third consecutive game against a ranked team, knocking off No. 19 UCLA 27–10 Saturday night, Nov. 4, in Tucson, Ariz.
The Wildcats (6–3, 4–2 Pac-12), who were coming off victories over then-No. 19 Washington State and then-No. 11 Oregon State, have surged to bowl eligibility for the first time since 2017. Fifita completed 25 of 32 passes and was picked off once against UCLA.
The Bruins (6–3, 3–3) lost quarterback Ethan Garbers to injury after a sack early in the fourth quarter when trailing by two touchdowns. The Bruins failed to rally behind backup quarterback Dante Moore.
Tyler Loop’s 22-yard field goal with 4:40 left helped ice the game by giving Arizona a 27–10 lead. The student section poured onto the field after the game.
Arizona hasn’t posted a three-game winning streak against ranked teams since 1992. And never in the school history has such a streak occurred in back-to-back-to-back games.
The Wildcats held UCLA to 271 total yards. Garbers was 13 of 21 passing for 143 yards and a touchdown. Moore was 4 of 7 for 14 yards.
Arizona expanded its 14–7 halftime lead with Loop’s 37-yard field goal with 8:15 to go in the third quarter. UCLA answered with Blake Glessner’s 29-yard field goal about six minutes later to make it a one-score game again.
Fifita’s third touchdown toss, an 11-yarder to Tetairoa McMillan, gave Arizona breathing room at 24–10 with 14:37 to go in the game.
Arizona went up 14–0 in the first half on a pair of Fifita 9-yard touchdown passes, first to Montana Lemonious-Craig and then to Jacob Cowing, the latter coming with 1:27 left before the break.
UCLA responded with a huge drive, going 75 yards and ending with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Carsen Ryan with three seconds left to make it 14–7.
Earlier in the half, the Bruins squandered two red-zone trips, missing a 42-yard field-goal attempt and having a 41-yard try blocked by Ephesians Prysock.
