Noah Fifita accounted for five touchdowns and became Arizona’s career passing leader in a 42-17 win over Northern Illinois in a nonconference game on Saturday night in Tucson, Ariz.
The Wildcats (2-1) trailed 10-0 after six minutes before scoring the next 42.
Fifita, a fifth-year senior, threw for 325 yards on 31-of-34 passing with four TDs and added a rushing score. His 10,017 career yards are six more than Nick Foles had from 2009-11, and Fifita also broke Foles’ single-game school record for completion percentage when completing at least 30 passes.
Northern Illinois (0-3) got 228 passing yards and a TD from Taron Dickens, who was 25 of 37, while Dearee Rogers had 10 catches for 68 yards.
Arizona led 28-10 at halftime and added to that margin six minutes into the third quarter on a 3-yard TD catch by Tyler Powell. Fifita called his own name early in the fourth quarter, scoring on a 30-yard run, then broke the school passing record with about six minutes left on a 7-yard pass to Isaiah Mizell.
NIU ended a 42-0 Arizona run with 13 seconds left on a 1-yard run by Elijah Porter.
Northern Illinois scored on the opening possession on a 38-yard field goal by JJ Schlenhardt then, after forcing a 3-and-out, made it a 10-0 lead on a 52-yard pass from Dickens to Cam Thompson.
Arizona got on the board midway through the first on a 38-yard catch by Chris Hunter then went ahead with 11:13 left in the second quarter on a 14-yard reception by Mizell.
The Wildcats scored twice more before halftime, on a 10-yard reception by Tre Spivey and a 69-yard punt return by Caleb Smith. It was Arizona’s first punt returned for a TD since 2017.
NIU stays on the road to face Georgia State on Sept. 26, while Arizona visits former Pac-12 foe Washington State on Sept. 26.