There were few positives for the Wildcats’ 24-14 loss to the ASU Sun Devils this past weekend. On the plays that the Wildcats did well, they were able to pick up huge chunks of yards through the air and on the ground.
Khalil Tate’s 18-yard pass to J.J. Taylor
Fans have seen a lot of this in Tate and Taylor’s career playing together, but on this play, there were three receivers wide to the left and one receiver to the right with Tate in the shotgun and Taylor next to him. Arizona State came with a corner blitz on the one receiver side, which left the safety to match up with the outside receiver, and the other receivers were one-on-one, which also left Taylor one-on-one with a linebacker. Taylor did a simple angle route and caught the linebacker flat footed and blew right by him. Tate hit Taylor in stride and Taylor picked up 18-yards on the play.
Khalil Tate’s 29-yard rush
Something that Arizona fans got accustomed to seeing after his sophomore year was Tate’s ability to take off and make a play with his legs. Tate has strayed away from this the last two seasons, most likely because of his ankle injury last season, but this wasn’t the case Saturday. On this play, Tate had the same formation as the check down to Taylor — three receivers wide right and one wide right and Taylor to his left. On the snap, Tate took a five-step drop, then tackle Edgar Burrola got pancaked, which forced Tate to take off. Arizona State looked to be in a man or Cover 2 defense, so there was plenty of room in the middle of the field for Tate to run. Tate got to about the 40-yard line before being touched by the first man, then spun out of a tackle and was finally brought down at the 36-yard line.
Khalil Tate’s 48-yard touchdown pass to Joiner
What a game for Jamarye Joiner. The converted quarterback-to-receiver had seven receptions for 140 yards and two touchdowns against the Sun Devils. On his first touchdown, Joiner was lined up in the slot and simply caught the corner, covering him guessing, as Tate faked the screen pass to Brian Casteel then hit Joiner in stride. After hitting him in stride, Joiner juked to the right of the safety coming over, then simply outran the corner to the endzone, a simple yet effective play for the Wildcats, something fans wish they saw more of during the earlier parts of the season.
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