Arizona overcomes slow start to throttle Northern Illinois

The Arizona Wildcats put a sluggish start behind them to rout Northern Illinois 42-17 on Noah Fifita’s record-breaking night Saturday at Casino Del Sol Stadium.

After falling behind early after a series of miscues, the Wildcats scored 42 unanswered points to improve to 2-1 on the season.

Fifita finished 31 of 34 with 325 yards, setting Arizona’s program record for career passing yards in the process. Fifita broke the record in the fourth quarter on a seven-yard completion to Isaiah Mizell, prompting the Wildcats to play a special message from Nick Foles on the video board, the old program record holder.

🐐 to 🐐@NickFoles has officially passed the torch to @thenoah_fifita1❗️ https://t.co/7u1UEDPMyr pic.twitter.com/m0r3GvtPBQ

— Arizona Athletics (@AZATHLETICS) September 20, 2026

The Arizona signal caller connected on 27 of his first 29 throws, including 19 in a row, in his 37th career start for Arizona.

The Wildcats responded well to the early deficit. They surrendered 157 total yards in the first quarter but allowed only 184 yards after that point.

Similar to last week’s sloppy second half against BYU, Arizona’s offensive line again struggled Saturday. The Wildcats’ offensive line allowed Fifita to be sacked four times in the first half, including twice on Arizona’s opening drive. Northern Illinois excelled in mixing up blitz coverages to confuse the Wildcats.

The Huskies out of the Mountain West Conference had not scored first-quarter points through the first two games of the season but gave the Wildcats an early 10-0 scare, largely due to poor play from Arizona’s run defense and secondary, in addition to the offensive line’s mistakes.

NIU took its double-digit lead via a 52-yard touchdown pass on the opening play of the Huskies’ second drive. Starting Arizona cornerback Dwight Bootle was ruled out before the game’s start, and Tyrese Boss assumed his role. Bootle’s absence was felt as Boss was burned badly on the touchdown.

A 52-yard DOT dropped right into the bucket for @NIU_Football 😳🪣 pic.twitter.com/eUWwZciJE6

— TNT Sports U.S. (@TNTSportsUS) September 20, 2026

Missing Gio Richardson, who was again absent after leaving the first half of last week’s loss to BYU with a lower extremity injury, the other Wildcats receivers stepped up in a big way to help fill his shoes. Fifita threw touchdown passes to four different receivers on the night.

Unfortunately for Arizona, tight end Cole Rusk exited in the third quarter with a lower leg injury and went straight to the locker room. It appeared to be an ankle issue for the former Illinois man.

Ismail Mahdi made his season debut midway through the second quarter, tallying two carries for nine yards as he continues to work his way back after being granted a fifth year of eligibility.

Collectively, Arizona shied away from the run game. Kedrick Reescano led Arizona with seven carries for 30 yards, while Quincy Craig added three carries for 23 yards. Fifita ran six times for four yards.

Arizona’s receivers looked the best they have through three games and the play calling from Seth Doege was the best it’s been.

On Arizona’s opening touchdown, Fifita found Chris Hunter for a 38-yard score. It was Hunter’s first touchdown since Oct. 11, 2025. Hunter finished with five catches for 73 yards.

On the board.

Fifita hits Hunter for six. pic.twitter.com/YjSTwCY5YX

— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) September 20, 2026

On the next drive out of a timeout, on a 3rd-and-4, Mizell scored his first career touchdown on a mesh concept drawn up perfectly to give Arizona its first lead of the game. He added five receptions for 49 yards.

Cats in front.@IsaiahMizell finds the end zone for his first college TD. pic.twitter.com/OT7d8b9FdS

— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) September 20, 2026

Arizona made it touchdowns on three consecutive possessions when on the next drive Tre Spivey made an incredible one-handed touchdown grab on a fade route. Spivey led Arizona pass catchers with six receptions for 90 yards.

that just happened.@SpiveyTre just happened. pic.twitter.com/gWxwy095WJ

— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) September 20, 2026

Caleb “Jet” Smith returned a punt for a 69-yard touchdown, giving Arizona its first punt return for a touchdown since Sept. 15, 2017, vs. UTEP (Shun Brown) and a 28-10 lead.

After Rusk exited injured, Tyler Powell caught his first career touchdown on a fourth-and-goal situation.

Saturday attendance

40,413

Up next for Arizona Wildcats

Arizona now travels to Pullman to face Washington State at 4:30 p.m. next Saturday. The Cougars defeated Duquesne 48-7 on Saturday.

Related

Noah Fifita sets Arizona Wildcats career passing yards record, eclipses Nick Foles’ markBYU, Texas A&M move up in AP Top 25 after respective wins over Arizona, ASUPlay calling, penalties punish Arizona Wildcats in loss to No. 15 BYUArizona football reveals uniform combo for Big 12 matchup vs. BYUWildcats look ahead to BYU’s high-powered offense after stymieing NAUPair of Arizona football players cleared for competition following push for eligibility