Arizona Rebounds to Beat Washington State

Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita, in his first career start, connected on a 27-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Dorian Singer with 10 seconds remaining to cap a 20-19 comeback victory over Washington State on Saturday night at Husky Stadium.

Trailing 19-13 with 9:47 left in the fourth quarter, the Wildcats (2-0) drove 75 yards on 11 plays to tie the game on a 1-yard run by running back Michael Wiley with 3:27 left.

Washington State (0-2) then drove into Arizona territory and appeared to have the game won when quarterback Jayden de Laura found wide receiver Donovan Ollie for a 36-yard gain to the Wildcats' 22-yard line with 1:21 left.

But the Cougars were called for a holding penalty that backed them up 10 yards, and de Laura was sacked for a 9-yard loss on the next play by Arizona linebacker Hunter Echols.

That gave Arizona the ball back with 1:11 left at its own 13-yard line, and Fifita led the Wildcats on the game-winning drive.

Fifita completed 4 of 7 passes for 66 yards on the drive, including a 22-yarder to Singer on third-and-10.

"I'm just so proud of our guys," Arizona coach Jedd Fisch said. "They never gave up, and they found a way to win."

Fifita finished the game 15 of 23 for 176 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

"It was a great feeling to get my first career start and to lead my team to a victory," Fifita said. "I'm just so thankful to my teammates and coaches for believing in me."

Washington State coach Jake Dickert was disappointed with the loss, but he said he was proud of his team's effort.

"We had our chances to win the game, but we didn't make enough plays down the stretch," Dickert said. "We'll learn from this and we'll be back better next week."