For those who care to remember, the Cougars were very close to coming away from Tucson with a loss last October, needing two overtime periods on top of a fairly miraculous fumble recovery from offensive lineman Kyle Sfarcioc to take a 33-27 win.

While some BYU fans may well have forgotten just how tough the game against the Wildcats proved to be, Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita certainly has not.

The senior quarterback, who is generally regarded as the top signal-caller in the Big 12 Conference, has widely mentioned just how much he’s been looking forward to the matchup against BYU this season.

And, given just how productive Fifita has proved over his career, his play on top of the added revenge motivation could certainly pose a problem.

“He’s the same guy. He’s always efficient, and his football IQ is really impressive,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said during his weekly press conference. “The things that he can do on the field — and he can do it with his legs, too — but he’s got such a strong arm and just the knowledge of where to go with the ball. So, it’s going to be really hard to confuse him, because he doesn’t get confused easily.”

The best way to confuse an opposing quarterback is often through providing a strong and consistent pass rush to disrupt the timing involved in producing a prolific passing attack. Garnering a few sacks in between is also a big benefit and, although the Cougars recorded just one sack last week versus the Trailblazers, more blitz packages are certain to be thrown Fifita’s way come Saturday.

Of course, stopping the run game and forcing passing situations will also prove a benefit.

“We have to find ways to disrupt their passing game and disrupt the run game,” Sitake said. ” … They have a physical line. They have a few running backs in their corp that can they can actually run the ball and can punish you, and so they can be game-breakers. So, that combined with the with the receivers that they have … those guys can do it with the ball in their hands. So, they’re difficult.”

Complicating matters in defending Fifita and Arizona’s arsenal is the loss of starting safety Raider Damuni. The senior had to be helped off the field late in the second quarter during last week’s win with a knee injury that appeared to be serious, with Sitake remarking as much during his postgame interview.

The bad news is that Damuni won’t be recovering in time to take on Arizona, but should be back at some point during the season.

“I think I asked on Saturday for a miracle, and we got one, you know? Raider is going to be able to play this year … He’ll be able to heal, and hopefully we can get him back as soon as possible,” Sitake said.

Replacing Damuni is sophomore Tommy Prassas, a player coaches have a lot of confidence in to the point where he broke into the rotation as a true freshman last season.

“I’d love to have (Damuni) this weekend, you know, especially against Noah Fifita, but Tommy’s ready for this moment,” Sitake said. “Tommy’s been a guy that started for us before, and he’s worked really hard, and he’s been mentored by Raider. And so, I think he and Faletau (Satuala) are going to be good, and then we’re going to need Kennan Pula and Jarinn Kalama to be ready to roll, too.”