Arizona Football: 5 players who shined win over UCLA

If you were one of the 48,000 plus Arizona Football fans who came out to cheer on your Cats against UCLA, you would have heard these five players names announced many times.

We can all agree, can’t we that football is a team sport? From the successful play calling by Coach Rod Smith, Coach Calvin Magee and Coach Yates and all of the Arizona Football coaches and grad assistants, to the QB manning the game and running the offense, to the offense and defense stepping up, the Equipment Manager Wendell Neal and his team of managers making sure everyone is outfitted and the players have everything they need, the trainers and everyone we missed all working together, this win does not happen.

Quarterback Khalil Tate reminded the media in the post-game press conference, that without the proper blocks, his performance doesn’t happen by giving them kudos. And although we didn’t include him in the five, Dane Cruikshank‘s final interception sealed the win, so props to Dane!

In no particular order let’s review five players who made an impact and helped the Wildcats beat UCLA for the first time in six years.

On Saturday night Tucson was a football town, and it was fun!

After the game, Coach Jim Mora told the media that his team’s goal was to stop Khalil Tate’s running game, and they didn’t tackle very well. He wasn’t happy.

Khalil Tate

Khalil Tate earned Pac-12 player of the week honors again this week. That’s two weeks in a row. In the same weekend, ASU beat a ranked Washington team, and Cal beat a ranked Washington State team, so one never knows what will happen in Pac-12 After Dark. Tate received more national attention after the win against the Bruins, his hometown team.

Rich Rod is very proud of Tate, “Just really proud of the way he’s really taking charge a little bit,” said Rich Rod, “He’s got great touch — I thought he thrown the ball really well and I think he saw the field really well — every week he understands more and more what we want out of our offense and what his role can be — Khalil just truly wants to win.”

Tate proved that he is not a flash in the pan, he is the real deal.

He not only led his team to 605 total offensive yards, but he also added two more rushing touchdowns. Tate Rushed for 230  yards on 15 attempts (15.33-yard average) and scored two touchdowns (45 yards and 71 yards). Tate passed for another 148 yards making nine out of 13 passes with no interceptions.

Out of Tate’s nine passes, two passes for over 40 yards (53 yards to Shun Brown and 44 yards to Tony Ellison) and one 6-yard touchdown pass to TE Trevor Wood (his first career TD) is nothing to sneeze at.

Tate made national headlines once more when he recorded his second consecutive game rushing for at least 200 yards. That feat hadn’t been accomplished since 1997 when Navy’s Chris McCoy did it. He also ranked No. 2 in ESPN’s QBR ratings for week 7.

But it was the 71-yard rushing touchdown that I cannot stop watching. He made three Bruins miss tackling him and accelerated past the rest of their team and his own to score another touchdown. “I just kind of Juked him,” said Tate. “He just did a Khalil, that’s what we call it in practice,” explained Kyle Wilborn.

In just two games, Tate has rushed for 557 yards (19.2 average yards per carry), scored six rushing touchdowns and two passing touchdowns, and suffered no interceptions. Overall he has earned 643 total yards rushing, an average of 74.3% pass completion and eight touchdowns.

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Never once did I see Tate unravel or lose it. Even when the Bruins stepped on him and over him while he was on the turf, get in his face, he got up and continued to perform at a high level. Cool, calm and collected, he had ice in his veins.

David Malinsky, a SportsBookReview.com writer, made an excellent point about how the team will rally around their special quarterback:

"It isn’t just about what Tate does individually at the QB position, but the impact his play has across the rest of the team. When you believe that you can win, the mood around the program changes. Players hit the weight room longer and harder, and spend more time studying their game plans."

Even the basketball team is taking notice! And Jim Mora!

Kylan Wilborn

Kylan Wilborn’s family enjoyed their pre-game time at Gentle Bens while their Arizona star freshman was preparing for the game. He was looking forward to beating a team from California. “I think it’s just really cool,” said Wilborn in the post-game press conference, “I think it was just a big confidence boost because most of this team is from California, and to go against kids you been playing with in high school or pop warner I think it’s pretty cool to come out and get this win!”

Wilborn has recorded five sacks so far in his young career, four of those were recorded by tackling Josh Rosen which makes them extra special. He leads all Pac 5 freshmen in sacks. Wilborn’s teammate Kurtis Brown, another true freshman, weighing in at 285 from Bakersfield Ca., also got a sack.

“We knew we couldn’t take the gas off, that was just one thing that was most important seeing what he did against A&M,” said Wilborn explaining how they didn’t relax on Josh Rosen, “We just knew we had to keep going no matter what, we had to get a hop on them early and just continue to bring pressure and just make plays on the defensive side.”

Not only did Wilborn log four sacks on the night, but he also forced a fumble.

Jace Whittaker

Jace Whittaker, in his sophomore season, is killing it on defense this season. I bumped into his very proud mom on the way out of the stadium Saturday night and congratulated her,  “That’s my son,” said Mrs. Whittaker smiling from ear to ear.

Whittaker has some impressive first season stats, and he padded them on Saturday against the Bruins. The highlight of the night for Jace was a 42-yard interception for a touchdown. But that wasn’t the only interception Whittaker would grab, he snatched second Heisman hopeful Josh Rosen pass as well!

What endeared me more to Whittaker was what he said in his post-game interview. “The most meaningful thing is that we got a team win tonight.” And when pressed about what he meant by that statement, he plainly stated again, “The team won tonight, yeah just that.” Bravo! This team is really doing a great job on their messaging; it’s not about any one player, it’s about their team and what everything means to the team.

Arizona Wildcats Football

Whittaker explained to the media that Josh Rosen is talked about for a reason, he is good. Coach Yates trusted him in one-to-one defense battles to win, and he did what he was supposed to do. “Personally it was a big team thing, it was the defense as a whole,” said Whittaker, “No one was playing timid tonight.” He mentioned that the players play for each other and that they want to continue to be a question mark.

Scoring the 42-yard interception for a touchdown? “Oh man, that’s a dream come true,” said Jace, “That’s one of those things as a kid when you’re growing up playing football in the front yard that you dream of, and it turned into a reality tonight.”

Whittaker was playing for his father who is in the hospital. This whole week with him being in the hospital that’s all I could think about,” said Whittaker, “I mean that man taught me football growing up, that was all for him tonight.”

Nick Wilson

Nick Wilson is baaaackkk! Wilson rushed 22 times for 135 yards and two touchdowns (1 yard and 6 yards). That’s right; we heard Nick Wilson’s name on Saturday night 22 times!

It must feel good for Wilson to have a solid game against the UCLA Bruins. He is healthy, and knock on wood that he stays that healthy.

“It is great to be back to where I was, I never been that dude, I’ve never been a quitter,” said Wilson, “Everyone focuses on him [Tate], so it helps the running backs.”

In his freshman year, Wilson rushed for 17 touchdowns and one passing touchdown and recorded 1,465 total offensive yards. With 354 yards so far this year and six games remaining, Wilson has a chance to add more stats in his senior year.

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Asked about his quarterback and how he evades opponents, Nick Wilson said, “Khalil does Khalil.”

Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles

Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles is having a hell of a season so far. He has recorded three interceptions and has recovered two fumbles in six games. Last season, he grabbed two interceptions. So he has far surpassed last season in just six games.

Before the season started the Junior cornerback was ranked No. 2 in the Pac-12 in lowest passer ratings.

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Generated 10/16/2017.

We look forward to many more exciting turnovers from Flannigan-Fowles this season, there is so much more football left!

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I like writing posts like this. Why? Well, one because I predicted this team would be better than most were expecting. Two, it’s so much better than writing about all that needs to get fixed. That said Rich Rodriguez and the team all feel there is a lot yet to fix (clears throat – avoid penalties). Onward and upward, next victim is set to fall next Saturday at Cal in Northern California on October 21st at 5 pm on the Pac-12 Network unless ESPN decides that these two teams who dished out upsets last weekend deserve a spot on their network.