Arizona football: Matt Morin brought levity to downer of a game vs. USC

At least we saw this happen in Arizona Stadium on Saturday

There’s no sugarcoating it, the Arizona Wildcats looked awful against the USC Trojans on Saturday.

Going into the game, we knew that Brandon Dawkins was not going to dress, which left it up to true freshman quarterback Khalil Tate to try and succeed against his hometown team that didn’t want him as a quarterback.

Early on, Tate showed some flashes running the ball, and even flashed the V for victory to the USC bench after rushing for a touchdown.

But it was pretty much all downhill from there as Arizona was unable to establish any semblance of a passing game.

When the Wildcats took over at their own 37-yard line with 2:28 left in the third quarter, Rich Rodriguez made a change at quarterback and put in third or fourth-string tight end Matt Morin.

Morin, who hadn’t played quarterback since high school five years ago, threw an incompletion on his first attempt, drew a pass interference on the second try, then completed a ten yard pass to Nate Phillips for his first career completion.

“I think for a guy that hadn’t played quarterback since five years ago in high school and been taking snaps for a week and a half, he did alright,” Rodriguez said. “Obviously everything’s kind of new to him with that.”

Appreciate all the love guys. ✊

— Matt Morin (@matthewmorin10) October 16, 2016

This is Morin’s second full season with the program, having played at Chaparral HS, San Diego State, Saddleback College, and Riverside CC before making his way to Tucson.

“It’s been a bit of a different experience program-wise,” Morin told me way back in August of 2015. “Here from San Diego State is just a complete 180.”

Morin went on to say that he switched from quarterback to tight end at Saddleback because the team had a returning quarterback.

We’ve seen Morin mess around with throwing balls around a little bit in practice and before games, but it was never serious until a week ago.

“Pre-practice, we (Morin and Josh Kern) just take some snaps at quarterback,” Morin said in that interview last August. “But we haven’t done anything with us at quarterback in actual practice yet, but maybe that’s in the future.”

The future is now apparently as Arizona looks for answers at quarterback.

Against USC’s second and third team defense, Morin ended up going 4-of-8 through the air with an interception, a touchdown, and 84 total passing yards.

With the injury situation the way it is, Morin may find himself in more high-leverage situations.

It’s also funny that Morin drew Tim Tebow comparisons, being a left-handed, bigger guy wearing No. 15 in the backfield.

Matt Morin reminds me of @TimTebow. #Beardown.

— ElliotWnek (@ElliotWnek) October 15, 2016

Future Matt Morin 30 for 30: “What if I told you, that in 2016, a football team in the Pac-12 was down to a 3rd string tight end at QB?"

— Zack Rosenblatt (@ZackBlatt) October 15, 2016

A Matt Morin jump pass is all I need to complete my weekend

— Gabe Encinas (@Gabe_Encinas) October 15, 2016

Wait... I left the tv for a few minutes, MATT MORIN, OUR TE, AKA THE 5TH STRING QB IS IN FOR ARIZONA??? JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL

— 2-4 Ryperious (@RyperiousPeople) October 15, 2016

Folks that's not Matt Morin, it's Tim Tebow...squint your eyes, oh it's real!!!

— Saul Bookman (@Saul_Bookman) October 15, 2016

Matt Morin looks like Tim Tebow out there strictly from an aesthetic standpoint. He's #15, is left-handed, and has the size of a TE.

— Ryan Kelapire (@RKelapireUA) October 15, 2016

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