Pete ThamelESPNOct 28, 2023, 8:00 AM ET2 Minute Read
SVP will cover Wisconsin against Ohio State in its Week 8 winning games
Scott Van Pelt announces his picks for Week 8 of the college football season.
According to sources, Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita is expected to start his fourth straight game after taking the most reps of the first team in practice this week.
Jayden de Laura is back working in the rotation after suffering an ankle injury on Sept. 23 and is expected to be available Saturday night when Arizona takes on No. 11 Oregon State. Before the injury, de Laura had started 16 straight games for Arizona.
Arizona is 4-3 and 2-2 in the Pac-12 and has played well with Fifita under center. He led Arizona to a 44-6 win at No. 19 Washington State last week and has completed 75.2% of his passes this season.
Fifita, a redshirt freshman, has impressed in the two losses he started for Arizona. The Wildcats played a three-overtime thriller against USC and lost a one-point game to Washington, with Fifita scoring a total of eight touchdowns in those two games.
All of Arizona’s touchdowns in its win over Washington State strangely came on the ground. But Fifita threw for 342 yards and completed 34 of 43 passes in this dominant road win.
Arizona hasn’t reached a bowl game since Rich Rodriguez took over as coach in 2017 and went winless in 2020 under Kevin Sumlin. Jedd Fisch got the Wildcats two wins out of bowl eligibility with five games left.