Arizona Football: Khalil Tate leads valiant comeback in loss to USC remains in Heisman hunt

In a heartbreaking loss, Arizona Football quarterback Khalil Tate staged a valiant comeback in the second quarter against USC helping his Heisman candidacy.

In Khalil Tate’s fourth start of the season, he broke another record last night. In the second half against USC, he passed the 1,000-yards mark in rushing as a quarterback for the season (1,087 after rushing 162 yards). He’s the first quarterback in Pac-12 history to rush for 1,000 yards in a single season and the most in FBS since Oct. 1, 2017.

But wait there’s more.

Bruce Feldman, Sports Illustrated, ranked his Heisman Trophy candidates today, and guess what? He has Tate in at No. 3 behind No. 1 Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield and No. 2 Penn State running back Saquon Barkley. Mayfield passed for 598 yards and five TDs in a 62–52 just this past weekend against rival Oklahoma State.

Feldman on Tate:

"He proved to be a lot more than just Mr. October. The sophomore QB was quiet for a half as USC contained the L.A. kid on his return to Southern California. Then he went wild and sparked the Wildcats, who rallied from 22 points down before falling 49–35. Despite being sacked five times, Tate still topped the 160-yard rushing mark to go with two TD passes"

According to ESPN Stats and Info, Tate is on pace to possibly pass the single-season QB record.

USC head coach Clay Helton took Tate aside after the game, along with some of his players to talk to him. “I hugged his neck afterward and told him he honored his family and this city (Los Angeles),” said Helton who recruited Tate after he had committed to Arizona, “We’ve watched him grow up. He’s going to be a true talent in this league, and played honorably tonight.”

Helton is the second coach to give Tate a pep talk post game, UCLA coach Jim Mora was the first.

Arizona Football head coach Rich Rodriguez did not blame the loss to USC (49-35) on just the quarterback. He pointed out that the coaches and players had something to do with it as well and that the spotlight is always on the quarterback. Along with two interceptions, Ronald Jones (194 yards and three touchdowns) proved too much for the Arizona defense to hold back.

Arizona Wildcats Football

The Arizona defense, although wonderful this season at creating turnovers, gave up a ton of yardage in the game against USC. “Yeah we gave up 650 yards and 50 points, that’s my concerns,” said Rodriguez post game. He was not happy about the late start as well, “Four-hour game – yeah holy cow – we’ll get back at 4 am, Pac-12 After Dark or should say Pac-12 and early Sunday morning.”  On Tate, Rodriguez mentioned that if he knows Tate, he will get back to work tomorrow to make corrections.

Tate said he didn’t feel any extra pressure playing against his former Serra High School teammates. He was encouraged by coaches to keep his team pumped up, so he told them they were still in it. He was asked about that last interception in the game, his response, “It was an interception, right?”

Tate was asked postgame how much of a setback this loss was to the team. He responded, “Minor setback for a major comeback.” The takeaway for Tate is to “Keep on grinding — for sure get back to the drawing board and come out on top.” Not a man of many words at these press conferences but who needs words when you can run like the wind. He lets his play to do the talking.

One would have thought all was lost as Tate’s legs were wrapped up play after play by the Trojan Defense, and all the offense could muster up was two field goals. The two field goals were not too shabby though, as Lucas Havrisik continues to hit long yardage scores (43 and 45 yards).

Coming back from being 15 points down in the first half (21-6) and being sacked three times (first game) was truly exciting. Tate sparked the team with a 32-yard rushing touchdown. His team came out strong in the second half eventually tying the Trojans at 35. But a win wasn’t in the stars. Instead, the QB and his team suffered a heartbreaking education loss.

So one would think that Tate was no longer in the Heisman race, that Arizona has nothing to play for, and that fans were back to being down on the team.

Fortunately, nothing could be farther from the truth!

Fans outpouring of love and support for the team after the huge comeback attempt in the second quarter keeps coming. Tate is still in the Heisman race and Arizona is playing for a premium bowl bid.

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Tate passed for another 162 yards, 2 TD’s and 161 yards rushing and one TD. Catch Tate next week as Arizona plays Oregon State in Corvallis Saturday in another late game (7:15 pm on ESPN2).