Arizona Football: Khalil Tate’s Heisman Trophy campaign begins vs. BYU

After eight long months, our national nightmare has ended. Explosive, ridiculous, late night West Coast action is back with BYU and Arizona football.

Week 1 is upon us, which also happens to mean that the best part of college football, #Pac12AfterDark, is back. Obviously because the season is just getting started, the late-night games are non-conference matchups, which may not be as exciting as the midseason Pac-12 matchups, but this weekend, we have quite the intriguing face off, as BYU travels to Arizona.

These are two teams with a ton to prove in 2018. After an awful year last year, BYU needs to show improvement in 2018, and if they don’t head coach Kalani Sitake could be on a very hot seat. Beating Arizona would be an awesome way to show a renewed talent level and an ability to hang with power five teams.

For Arizona, it’s the start of a new era. Rich Rodriguez is gone, and Kevin Sumlin is set to take over after being fired from Texas A&M. The Wildcats have a ton of talent, and seem to be the number two team in the Pac-12 South entering the season, behind USC. If they can avoid slip ups early, they may be able to challenge USC for the top spot, and could even be headed to a New Year’s Six bowl.

This is obviously, a bit of an unbalanced matchup. Arizona seems to be the much better team, at least on paper. BYU’s defense should be pretty good, so they will give Khalil Tate a challenge, but is Tanner Mangum and the BYU offense going to be able to put up points on an Arizona defense that should at least be decent?

Here’s how you can watch this interesting West Coast battle:

Date: Saturday, Sept. 1
Time: 10:45 p.m. EST
Location: Tuscon, Ariz.
Venue: Arizona Stadium
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN

Arizona keys to victory

This is a super winnable game for the Wildcats. They should be a top 25 level team this season, and BYU, well, isn’t that. BYU is still very much rebuilding, and an electric Arizona offense should be able to take advantage of that. Like I said, BYU has a pretty good defense, with seven starters returning, but I still think Arizona can do some damage.

The main thing here is just playing their game, and not trying anything too crazy. Let Khalil Tate work, spread the ball around to a really solid receiver group, and get JJ Taylor touches throughout the game. Arizona should be able to win the battle in the trenches, and if they just keep it on the ground, their big play threat should keep BYU from making this too close.

BYU keys to victory

BYU has to be a changed team to win this game, or even make it a good game. Arizona has nine defenders back from last year, and while the Wildcats weren’t great on defense last year, BYU’s offense was far, far worse. This was probably one of the worst offenses in the country in 2017. To win this game, that cannot be the case. I don’t think BYU will be able to keep Arizona out of the endzone, which means they need to be able to keep up on the scoreboard.

That will require excellent performances from quarterback Tanner Mangum, running back duo Squally Canada and Zachary Katoa, and a receivers room that I’m not super confident in. The line could struggle too, so it may have to be a quick hitting attack for the Cougars. Ty Detmer is no longer the offensive coordinator, which is good, but I’m still not sure if BYU has the firepower to keep up.

Betting odds

Courtesy of Oddshark

Point Spread: Arizona -11.5
Over/Under: 60.5

Prediction

BYU is going to be better this season. They can probably make a bowl game, and I think the offense will at least be better than it was last year. However, Arizona is really good on paper. They return 16 starters, and they’re probably one of the four best teams in the Pac-12. I don’t think this BYU team is ready for that kind of competition.

Khalil Tate kicks off his Heisman campaign with a massive game, gashing BYU for 400 total yards and five scores, as Arizona pulls away before the first half ends. BYU puts up some points on the second team defense, but doesn’t cover.

Final score: Arizona 48, BYU 20