The UCLA Bruins had no answers on Saturday for Arizona Wildcats quarterback Khalil Tate. Tate ran circles around the Bruins’ defense and had a field day treating the field like his own treadmill, rushing for 230 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries in a 47-30 win over Josh Rosen and UCLA.
Tate greatly outplayed Bruins signal-caller Josh Rosen, who had nothing to show in the game. While Rosen was throwing picks and getting tackled for negative yards, Tate was busy setting the turf on fire on his way to a record-setting day. With his performance, Tate became the first FBS quarterback to post two consecutive games of at least 200 rushing yards in the last two decades.
“Being more knowledgeable and the offensive line blocking the way they do, the receivers staying patient, it helps a lot,” Tate said of his comfort level with the offense.
“We did just enough with the turnovers (forcing four by UCLA) to give the offense a chance,” Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez said. “Just really proud of the way he (Tate) has kind of taken charge. When we needed a big play … he was delivering.”
Prior to abusing UCLA’s faulty run defense, Tate racked up 327 rushing yards — the most by any FBS player thus far this season — and four rushing scores, all of which proved to be necessary as the Wildcats won a close one, 45-42, against the Colorado Buffaloes last week.
Tate’s pair of strong performances could earn him another nod to start from head coach Rich Rodriguez next week, albeit against the California Golden Bears’ much tighter run defense that ranks sixth in the conference, per CFBStats.com.
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