Pac-12 After Dark special: Keep an eye on Arizona’s trip to Washington State
By Ethan Lee
Want to watch a team from the Pac-12 North host a team from Arizona? Well, you’ve got two chances to do that with Pac-12 After Dark this week! More than likely, you’ll only be able to watch one of them!
This weekend, there’s two late night games in the Pac-12, and they involve two teams from the Pac-12 North and then two teams from the state of Arizona. However, there’s a really good chance that you’ll only be able to watch one of these games and, well, that’s the game that you should watch this weekend.
Both Arizona and Arizona State are headed north this weekend. While Arizona is taking a road trip up to Washington State, Arizona State will be settling in to Eugene, Oregon to face the Ducks. But, unless you’ve got a special TV package, you’re probably not going to be able to watch the Sun Devils face off against the Ducks.
But, honestly, that’s okay. Yeah, sure, there’s plenty of interesting storylines in that game. Arizona State, despite starting the year 2-2 and struggling early on, has found a realistic path to winning the chaotic Pac-12 South, and with two more wins, might get to compete for a conference title should Utah trip up.
Ignore that for a second, though. Pac-12 After Dark is built on chaos and fun and weirdness, and what would be more fun than watching Arizona improbably finding a way to compete with the eighth ranked team in the country?
Khalil Tate is back from injury and appears to have picked up Kevin Sumlin’s offense
That alone doesn’t guarantee that the Arizona Wildcats will be able to hang with Washington State and Gardner Minshew, but it has to be encouraging for Arizona fans. While the dual-threat quarterback grabbed attention last season thanks to electrifying plays with his legs and phenomenal rushing stats, this season he’s becoming a polished passer.
His completion percentage isn’t great, it’s just 56.2 percent, but he’s already posted career highs in completions (131), attempts (233), passing yardage (1954), and touchdowns (19). And this is with missing a game and a half earlier this season due to injury.
Last week, the Wildcats got to rest and take a nice, pleasant bye week. But the weekend before that, Tate was tearing up the Colorado Buffaloes with a breakthrough performance. In what was clearly his best game of the season, Khalil Tate threw for 350 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception while completing 17 of 22 passes.
Washington State will have a much better defense for Tate to face, and playing in Pullman will make things much more difficult. Still, if Arizona could get something similar to that performance, then the Wildcats might just have a chance to make this game competitive.
Oh, and it might help to have a Doak Award semi-finalist in the backfield with Tate this weekend. Which, as it turns out, Arizona does.
Of course, for this game to be truly competitive, Arizona will have to find a way to stop Mike Leach’s offense that is being run perfectly by Gardner Minshew, or at the very least slow it down. Arizona allows its opponents to throw for 248.7 yards per game. Washington State is averaging 392.3 passing yards per game.
Expect some points to be scored in this affair.
Most importantly, Arizona vs. Washington State is a game that most fans can actually watch
If you want to watch Pac-12 After Dark, Arizona and Washington State is probably your best bet to do so. ESPN will be showing Washington State and Arizona. Oregon and Arizona State has been relegated to the Pac-12 Network, which is lame.
If you have a service like fuboTV, then you should be able to catch all of the action in Eugene between the Sun Devils and the Ducks, which is great! The more late night Pac-12 action that you catch, the better. But Arizona and Washington State will be a notably more available game for many more college football fans.
Pac-12 After Dark is always going to have something of a niche following among college football fans. Many people aren’t going to stay up late at night and watch weird football because they like to sleep, which is completely and totally fair too. All of that said, it’s unfortunate that many college football fans who might consider watching a competitive game between Oregon and Arizona State won’t get the opportunity to do so.
Next. 50 greatest college football players this century. dark
There have been few teams this season that have been as chaotic and odd and yet still pleasantly enjoyable in the way that Arizona State has been. And it wasn’t that long ago that it looked like the Oregon Ducks were back to their old winning ways. Both the Ducks and the Sun Devils are 6-4 this season, and both teams could still lock up solid bowl bids a season after disappointing finishes for both teams in the 2017 season.
But that game is really only going to be available to a few fans and the folks that are present in the stands. So, if you want to see some late night Pac-12 After Dark college football chaos, flip on over to Arizona and Washington State.