Arizona’s players of the game vs. Purdue

Here are the Wildcats that stood out in the Foster Farms Bowl

The Arizona Wildcats suffered another heartbreaking loss Wednesday at the hands of the Purdue Boilermakers in the Foster Farms Bowl.

After being down 31-14 to start the second half, Arizona went on a 21-point tear, only to allow Purdue to march down the field and score a game-winning touchdown.

There were UA players who stood out in the 38-35 loss, though.

Here they are:

Offense: Khalil Tate, QB

Game Stats: 17-for-26, 302 yds, 5 TD, 1 INT; 20 car, 58 yds

Tate had himself a career night. He looked great throwing the ball for the most part. He had the touch that he shown for most of the year. I mean, not much more to say on that.

Some things he will have to work on are holding onto the ball for too long, throwing the ball away instead of taking unnecessary losses, and not forcing throws downfield. But Tate should be a lot better next year, for sure.

Defense: Dane Cruikshank, S

Game Stats: 8 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 1.0 sack, 3 PBU

Cruikshank was all over the field for the ‘Cats all night. He came flying in for a sack that cost Purdue 11 yards. He had multiple defended passes. Not to mention he was one of the surest tacklers on the night. He was aggressive and constantly swarming to the ball. He was the most consistent piece on the defense.

Special Teams: Jake Glatting, P

Game stats: 9 punts, 327 yards (36.8 average), long of 48 yards

I’m going to give credit where credit is due. Glatting had a pretty decent game. He only had one miscue but did a nice job booting the ball down the field. He had three punts inside the 20-yard line and hung it up high enough to cause the returner to fair catch the ball. Overall Glatting’s best performance of the season.

Honorable Mentions

Tony Fields II, LB: 13 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 1.0 sack; Fields had himself a strong game. He was physical and did a great job blitzing the QB when he did. He is also the only UA player over 100 tackles this season.

Jace Whittaker, CB: 12 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 3 PBU; Whittaker had a rough first quarter but ended up finishing strong. He started wrapping up on his tackles and did a great job jumping routes.

Shawn Poindexter, WR: 5 rec, 71 yds, 1 TD; Poindexter had a really solid game and was a consistent option for Tate all night. He also scored his first career touchdown.

Tony Ellison, WR: 4 rec, 102 yds, 2 TD; Ellison made a beautiful 29-yard touchdown catch in coverage in the first quarter. He added another touchdown of 40 yards to start UA’s 21-point run in the second half.

Shun Brown, WR: 4 rec, 62 yds, 1 TD; Shun did Shun things. He had a shoestring catch and run for 13-yards up the sideline in the fourth quarter that set up his wide-open 24-yard touchdown grab.

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