Arizona’s Noah Fifita finds Tetairoa McMillan for 4 touchdown passes in Wildcats’ win over Lobos

The Arizona Wildcats’ formidable duo of Noah Fifita and Tetairoa McMillan came back with a bang in the season opener against New Mexico on Saturday.

The two teammates combined for four touchdown passes in the Wildcats’ 61-39 win over the Lobos on McMillan’s record-setting day.

In Arizona’s first game in the Big 12, McMillan nearly set the conference’s single-game record for the most receiving yards, narrowly falling short of former Baylor receiver Terrance Williams’ 314 yards in 2012.

The junior wide receiver did set Arizona’s single game receiving record on Saturday with 304 yards. The previous record was set all the way back in 1996 when Jeremy McDaniel had 283 yards at California. McMillan also tied Jacob Cowing’s program record of four receiving touchdowns in a single game.

McMillan tallied 10 receptions for 304 yards, while Fifita finished 19-of-31 and threw for 422 passing yards.

On the game’s third play from scrimmage, Fifita found McMillan for a 69-yard touchdown pass to put the Wildcats up 7-0.

The Inevitable Connection™️

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— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) September 1, 2024

On the next drive, the former Servite High School (Anaheim, California) teammates connected for another first-quarter touchdown, as McMillan made a difficult over-the-shoulder grab and then spun around for the 17-yard score to put Arizona ahead 14-7.

Try and stop these two 🫣

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— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) September 1, 2024

In the second quarter, Fifita found McMillan for a third touchdown pass of the first half, this one a 78-yard score that tied the score at 24.

199 yards and 3 TD and we’re not even halfway done 😷

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— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) September 1, 2024

In the first half, Fifita went 12-of-21 and threw for 278 passing yards, and McMillan had six catches for 208 yards.

Arizona went ahead 27-24 at the half after kicker Tyler Loop connected on a 46-yard field goal. Loop finished the first half 5-for-5, including a career-long 54-yard field goal and converting all three extra points.

In the third quarter, Fifita and McMillan linked for their fourth touchdown of the game, a 40-yard pass from Fifita that McMillan took to the endzone.

T-M4C HOUSE CALL! FOURTH(!!!) OF THE NIGHT! 🥵

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— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) September 1, 2024

How many touchdowns does Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan have?

The 6-foot-5 junior had four touchdowns for Arizona on Saturday after finding the end zone 10 times last year. He now has 22 career touchdown receptions. Juron Criner is the Arizona record holder with 32.

McMillan is projected to be a 2025 first-round pick in the NFL Draft after averaging 107.8 yards per game – fifth in the FBS – last season.

He was named to the Associated Press preseason All-America first team and was placed on the watch lists for the Biletnikoff and Maxwell awards.

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