Arizona has won five of their last six games, during which Wildcats' quarterback Khalil Tate has accounted for 2,164 total yards and 19 touchdowns.
How will Oregon prevent him from adding to those totals in Week 12? They're going to pray.
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When first-year Ducks' head coach Willie Taggart was asked on Monday how their defense planned to slow down the dual-threat quarterback, he gave a very honest answer.
“Pray,” he said. “No one has stopped him yet this year. He’s a heck of a talent.”
Jim Leavitt's defense does rank 49th in total yards given up per game and 25th vs. the rush, but they are 98th vs. the pass and 89th in scoring average. They allowed Washington to average 6.3 yards per carry (247 rushing yards) in their Week 11 blowout loss.
MORE: Pac-12 Standings
“Probably the most important thing, we’ve got to get lined up,” Taggart said, striking a more serious tone. “You see a lot of the big plays they make, defenses aren’t aligned right, part of it because of the tempo and not getting set up. I don’t think you can complicate things trying to defend him. I think that will get you to, when you ask your guys to do too much and then they don’t do anything right.
“I will say this, we’ve got to be really good at tackling, something we focused on a lot during the bye week. We’ve got to do a great job of tackling and make sure — we’re going to know where he’s at, we’ve just got to do a good job of getting to him and tackling.”
Oregon hosts Arizona at 4:00 p.m. PT on Saturday.
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