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 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.
–Field Level Media
