BOULDER — Colorado football players and coaches loaded on to the team plane Saturday after a victory at Oregon State, turned on some televisions, and watched the latest edition off what has become must-watch Pac-12 viewing: Khalil Tate vs. The World.
“He looks like a stallion out there just running by everybody,” said CU coach Mike MacIntyre on Monday. “They’re just standing still, it looks like to me. Itap amazing.”
Thatap right. More than a week has passed since Arizona’s backup quarterback torched the Buffaloes for 327 yards rushing in a 45-42 home loss and MacIntyre is still singing Tate’s praises. Itap hard to blame him. Tate once again put the nation on notice Saturday night with 230 yards rushing in a 47-30 home victory against UCLA.
Combined with reserve duty in Arizona’s first two games, Tate has now accumulated 643 yards on the ground this fall — more than stud USC tailback Ronald Jones on 63 fewer carries. Thatap wild. But why should it matter to the Buffaloes?
The gut reaction to Arizona’s upset victory in Boulder teetered on inexcusable. Starting quarterback Brandon Dawkins’ injury ushered in a new face CU’s defense hadn’t game-planned against — but with the same exact offense on a team picked preseason to finish last in the Pac-12 South Division. The Buffaloes simply couldn’t stop Tate. Now, a silver lining of sorts will be watching other league foes meet a similar fate, and just maybe, proving CU’s defensive woes weren’t accurately characterized.
“I wouldn’t say it makes me feel any better,” CU linebacker Drew Lewis said. “But it kind of makes sense for what happened.”
Rich Rodriguez was notably upbeat on the Pac-12 teleconference Tuesday, spending the majority of his 10 minutes with reporters gushing over his new star quarterback. The awe of watching Tate run? Even his head coach can be caught off guard.
“Khalil’s open-field speed has been not a surprise,” he said, “but (itap) better than we thought.”
Oh boy, Bob Davie. Did you catch what New Mexico’s football coach had to say during his weekly news conference? The Lobos host Colorado State at 8:15 p.m. Friday and in assessing the Rams, Davie said: “This is a Power 5 team, they’ve got my vote, and the sooner they get to a Power 5 conference, the better. We can start that campaign, but they are a Power 5 team in every way.”
An active Mountain West coach advocating for the departure of a member school is … interesting, to say the least. Davie’s comments were likely intended simply as praise for a well-rounded CSU football team poised for a run at the conference championship, plus a tinge of humor, as Davie would enjoy not facing CSU in coming seasons (the Rams have won seven straight against the Lobos).
Of course, the Rams still have Power-5 aspirations, but don’t expect players, coaches or administration to lay it out in such forward terms — even with a shiny new stadium on campus built with that same vision in mind.
“We want to be the best version of Colorado State we can be,” CSU coach Mike Bobo said. “Our goal is to play for this conference championship and eventually win this conference championship. … If the opportunity ever arises for realignment, we’d like to be a part of that discussion. A lot goes into that.”
