Khalil Tate has rushed for 557 yards, completed 80 percent of his passes and scored eight touchdowns in the last eight quarters, and that all started with a bench.
Tate sat on one until Brandon Dawkins was pushed into one. When that happened, the course of Arizona’s season was changed.
Dawkins, remember, was shoved onto the sideline at the end of a play in the first quarter of Arizona’s Oct. 7 game at Colorado. The blow — a Buffaloes defender pushed Arizona’s quarterback into a bench — was strong enough that Dawkins was forced to leave the game.
Tate might’ve played sooner than that if not for an injury of his own.
Tate landed harshly on his throwing shoulder and injured his AC joint in the Wildcats’ season-opening win over Northern Arizona. He could barely lift his arm, but played in relief a week later against Houston anyway. Tate was intercepted and clearly wasn’t himself.
Tate’s best self is a sight to be seen, as Colorado and UCLA now know.
On Saturday night, Arizona beat UCLA for the first time in six tries, and it wasn’t really close.
Scott Altenberg, Tate’s coach at Gardena Serra High School in Southern California, texted his former quarterback this week to take it easy on UCLA, his alma mater.
“He said, ‘All right coach … I’m not going to do that,’” Altenberg said. “He is not going to take it easy on my boys.”
He did not.
Tate started the night with a 45-yard touchdown run. In the third quarter, he bobbled the ball after faking a handoff, juked a defender and then ran 71 yards for another touchdown. That put Arizona up 40-22.
Broken play? That’s Tate’s best play.
“That’s what we call in practice ‘just doing a Khalil,’” said freshman linebacker Kylan Wilborn.
A UCLA defender jumped offside during a third-quarter play, giving Tate and the Wildcats license to thrill.
Tate busted through the middle of the defense and tripped on himself trying to cut toward the left sideline, a gain of 26 yards. In that moment, he proved what many already knew: lately, the only person who can tackle Khalil Tate is himself.
He finished the night completing 9 of 13 passes for 148 yards, and tacked on 230 rushing yards and three total touchdowns.
Arizona is 4-2 overall and 2-1 in Pac-12 play. The Wildcats sit in second place in the Pac-12 South, and bowl eligibility is now just two wins away.
They could be 5-1 or even 6-0, if a few more things went their way.
Tate starting in Week 1 instead of Week 7 might have made all the difference.
“I think, for about three weeks he was banged up so he didn’t practice much,” Rodriguez said. “He’s healthy and I think every week he understand more and more out of what we want form our offense. … Khalil truly just wants to win, he loves competing.”
Tate is the talk of the Pac-12. Yahoo Sports sent out a tweet on Saturday night comparing him to Michael Vick, the former NFL star and probably the most dynamic athlete to play the quarterback position.
Former Arizona linebacker Paul Magloire tweeted: “I feel robbed of a bowl game ring since Khalil ain’t start last year.”
Tate and Arizona are rolling, and everybody is still wondering what could have been.
Depending on what happens the rest of the way, it could forever be one of the Wildcats’ all-time what-ifs.
Tate said on Saturday that he feels more comfortable running Arizona’s offense than he ever has, and it shows. But he doesn’t feel different otherwise.
“I’m the same person,” Tate said. “I haven’t changed since high school.”
Now imagine him with six starts under his belt instead of one.
“I’ve said all along, the kid’s got a boatload, world of talent, and it’s good to see things starting to click with him,” UA quarterbacks coach Rod Smith said. “A kid with his athletic ability and talent, to play within structure it can be a sight to be seen.
“And then when a play breaks down, it’s between him and the good lord.”
