Arizona State defensive coordinator Phil Bennett this week was asked about the first time he heard the name Khalil Tate.
“After the Colorado game,’’ Bennett said of the Oct. 7 contest in which the Arizona sophomore set an FBS quarterback rushing record with 327 yards.
“I still remember: Somebody told me he averaged 40-something yards per carry. I thought, ‘What the hell?’’’
Actually, it was 23.4 yards per carry, but even so.
What the hell?
Tate’s emergence stunned the nation, reversed Arizona’s season and seven weeks later, it’s set to add an unpredictable element in Saturday’s 91st edition of the Duel in the Desert.