The Five keys for Arizona Football to beat ASU this weekend
By Jordan Cuda
No. 2 – Let Khalil Tate be…. Khalil Tate!
It’s no question the 2018 version of Khalil Tate and the 2017 version of Khalil Tate are two different players. So that begs the questions as to why?
Has he been hurt? Are the coaches holding him back to fit the offense? Is Tate holding himself back? What’s the reason?
As fans, we’ve had so many questions as to why the 2018 version is vastly different than the 2017 version. Nonetheless, he still has been pretty effective, and we must note that his passing has been considerably better.
This season, Tate has thrown for over 2,200 yards and 23 touchdowns to just seven interceptions. All the while, completing 56.7 percent of his passes. However, the once electric quarterback has just 179 yards rushing. Tate nearly doubled that total against Colorado last year alone!
We’ve heard from Sumlin that Tate has been healthier, and that could mean more running, but against the Cougars last weekend, Tate ran it eight times for a total of 31 yards, perhaps his most active running game thus far.
Could we be in store for a bit of the 2017 version of Tate to return versus ASU? Well, we can certainly hope so.
Either way, it’s time to unleash the beast, or at least find the form from last season that made him so successful, and be a dark horse Heisman candidate prior to the 2018 season.
We all know how Tate dominated the Sun Devils last year until getting hurt, give him the RPO (Run, Pass, Option) offense and let him get back to playing football the way he knows how. In my opinion, Tate needs to be himself in order for Arizona to win this one!