Colin Schooler hero as Khalil Tate leads the Wildcats to another win beating Cal 45-44 in 2OT

Arizona Football is proving to the world they belong in the conversation. The Wildcats beat Cal in another showdown ending up on top once again.

Arizona Football quarterback Khalil Tate led the Wildcats to another win beating Cal in overtime 45-44 proving they are not a fluke, they mean business. Sitting at the No. 2 spot in the Pac-12 South puts a smile on our collective faces, or it should. If you aren’t yet, it is time to support your football team. Grab a ticket and go to Homecoming!

The first huge play by the Cats came from what the Pac-12 announcers now term a dark horse Heisman candidate. Khalil Tate started the night off in the right direction with a 76-yard touchdown run. Against Colorado, Tate rushed for four touchdowns: 48 yards, 28 yards, 47 yards and 75 yards. So this was the longest touchdown run by Tate in his college career.

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Another fantastic play was a 56-yard TD pass from Tate to Shun Brown, beautifully thrown and caught. And Tate surpassed yet another personal record. This pass was the longest pass completion of Tate’s career.

Tate completed 10-15 passes for 166 yards (one interception late in the game) and rushed for another 137 yards on 17 attempts for a touchdown. Zach Green rushed for 130 yards on 20 attempts and two touchdowns. And this is the year for the tight ends, as we have said before, the top receiver on the night was none other than true freshman Bryce Wolma logging three pass completions for 15 yards and one touchdown (longest completion: 22 yards).

Yogi Roth (we think) of the Pac-12 Networks asks, “How many times can he [Tate] do that?” We hope a whole bunch of more times!

Controversy was the name of this game. Especially when the referees took out Arizona running back JJ Taylor on a targeting call as he made a spectacular block to save his quarterback from a sack. Helmets hit, but it wasn’t intended, and he is only 5-foot-6, so his size alone, although he never defines himself by his size, should lend some credibility to the hit being just that a hit.

What you may not have caught was targeting of a different kind. It seemed there was a late hit on Tate by Cal, and we saw a few of them that were never called.

Got confirmation haha:

https://twitter.com/TheFarmOnly/status/921906327261081600

Both Young and Taylor were taken out in the first quarter which means they will be able to start in the Cats next game. If this happened in the second half, they would have had to sit out the first half of the next game.

Taking Taylor out of the mix after Nick Wilson already got sidelined with an ankle injury early, made Khalil Tate’s job even harder. Tate has been breaking records with his touchdown runs, and rushing prowess in the last three games, but without Taylor blocking for him, it became a bit harder to get the whole to run up the field. It was solidly evident that Tate missed Taylor post-ejection.

Before the Taylor ejection, Troy Young was called for Targeting and ejected. Then a series of injuries plagued the Cats during the game including a few key players on defense. Tony Fields II went down, then Kylan Wilborn (the other No. 14), then Dereck Boles who was showing up in this Cal game making plays. Finton Connolly sacked Cal’s quarterback big time and Jarrius Wallace and Lorenzo Burns each grabbed huge interceptions, and those were some of the most exciting plays on the night!

What won the game for the Cats? Our newest hero, Colin Schooler who can now add cornerback to his resume’. But before Schooler’s brilliant play, a few other Wildcats had to step up. First Zach Green’s 22-yard touchdown pass to Bryce Wolma on the second play of the second overtime gave Arizona a 45-38 lead.

Khalil spoke to Schooler on the sidelines while the defense was in the huddle, and pumped him up. Well it worked!

Schooler topped the Arizona defense in tackles with 15! He was followed by Lorenzo Burns with 12, and Tony Fields II and Demetrius Flannagan-Fowles each with ten. But it was the last play of the game when Cals head coach Justin Wilcox decided to go for the win, and two points after a Vic Enwere scored 1-yard touchdown run.

Cal’s Jordan Duncan was planted in the back of the end zone waiting for Cal QB Ross Bowers’ pass, but it was never meant to be. Why? Because Schooler was all over him like bees on honey! Colin broke up the pass, and the celebration ensued! Cat’s beat Cal once again in a stellar fashion 45-44.

All this talk about hot seats for coaches, and recruiting not up to par, has gone by the wayside. The mainstream media and most Wildcats fans had preseason anger, the likes of which were hard to take by the team and the program as a whole. The only media outlet who had hope, who talked to the players and the coaches, who actually recognized Khalil Tate’s abilities early on was Zona Zealots.

I don’t think for one minute we talked about firing Rich Rodriguez. We came out early to request Khalil Tate be given and chance and told you all why. All we got back was ridicule for being homers. Well, I am here to tell you, we can be homers sometimes, that’s our prerogative, but this season, we did our homework.

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The haters can hate, but if you are honest with yourself, it’s time to say we were right and accept that you may have been wrong about this team. It feels better to have a happy Coach and Team than to be right, but both make this win even sweeter!