What Khalil Tate said after the loss to Houston

It was a tough game for Tate, who played through an injury

Khalil Tate’s early-season struggles continued Saturday in a 45-18 loss to the Houston Cougars.

The junior completed a career-high 24 passes for a career-high 351 yards, but needed a career-high 45 attempts to get there, plus tossed a pair of interceptions. And he continued to be a non-factor on the ground, being limited to eight yards and a touchdown on seven carries.

It comes one week after Tate accounted for just 211 yards (14 rushing) in a loss to BYU.

In fairness, Tate appeared to suffer a leg injury on the first series of Saturday’s game, which Kevin Sumlin told the ESPN crew “completely changed” Arizona’s plan to get him more involved on the ground.

Tate’s offensive line was also pushed around by Houston’s front-seven, which includes All-American defensive tackle Ed Oliver.

Here is what Tate had to say about that and more after the game:

Khalil Tate was dealing with an ankle injury during the loss to Houston

Posted by AZ Desert Swarm on Saturday, September 8, 2018

On his injury...

“It’s a football injury. Things happen. You get bumps and bruises but it’s all about how you bounce back from it.

On how much the injury affected his ability to run...

“Not too much. We still stuck to the game plan. We tried to get a lot of positive yards.”

On Houston’s tackling...

“They do a lot of aggressive tackling I’d say. I wouldn’t say it’s not fair, just aggressive. It’s not just a regular tackle. Like tackle and twist, things of that nature.

On if he felt pain throughout the game that led him to do things like throw the ball away when pressure was near...

“I guess you could say that.”

On the emotions after starting the season 0-2 for the first time since 1981...

“It’s early on. We haven’t gotten to Pac-12 play yet, which is kind of a blessing in disguise. It’s growing pains. Things are going to happen when you have a new coach, when you have basically five linemen that have never played college football yet. It’s things that are going to happen. It’s all about how you bounce back from it.”

On if Shun Brown’s increased involvement in the offense — he caught nine passes for 73 yards after having one catch for 11 yards last week — was a conscious effort on Tate’s part or part of the game plan...

“A little bit of both. We know we have to add him to the mix more and get him the ball in the open field and it’s something I wanted to do also.”

On what happened when Houston stopped Arizona four times on the own goal line...

“They got four stops. Pretty simple.”

On the adjustment that comes with having four new offensive linemen...

“It’s different. It’s not they’re new, it’s that they’re young. A lot of them haven’t played college football yet so everything that’s happening for them is new. It’s all about growing pains and going through that situation so the next time it isn’t the same.”

On what has to be changed to turn things around...

“Just keep doing what you’re doing. It’s tough. We have a pretty young team, up front at least. It’s growing pains and like I said it comes with a new coach and things of that nature.”

On if there was a discussion about coming out of the game earlier than he did (he exited late in the fourth quarter)...

“No. It was a little tweak, a little bruise, but I have heart so I’m not just going to tap out.”

On what is holding the offense back...

“One play. We’re basically one play away from what we can be. One catch away, one read away, one breakaway touchdown away. It’s simple things. People just expect things to happen so fast.”

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