ASU Football: Arizona players to watch

For the Arizona State Sun Devils to eliminate the Arizona Wildcats from bowl season and keep the Territorial Cup, they’ll need to limit the impact of these players.

Redshirt sophomore running back J.J. Taylor — If Arizona is going to win this football game on Saturday, they’ll need a valiant performance from Taylor. He currently has the third most rushing yards in the Pac-12, behind ASU’s Eno Benjamin and Oregon State’s Jermar Jefferson. Taylor also ranks sixth in the nation in rushing yards with his 1290 yards this season.

An odd stat to watch is Taylor’s yards per carry, and the line between 4.8 and 4.7. When Taylor averages 4.7 yards or less, the Wildcats are 0-5. When he averages over 4.8 yards per carry, Arizona is 5-1 with their lone loss being a one-point defeat at the hands of UCLA. Good things happen for the Cats when Taylor is efficient.

Junior quarterback Khalil Tate — Tate had monumental expectations heading into 2018, it hasn’t gone how everyone had hoped, well maybe for Sun Devil fans it has. After breaking out in 2017, Tate got off to a hot start in his first Territorial Cup last season before he got hurt and left the game.

Despite his slow start to the season this year, Tate has turned it on of late. Over the past three games, the Wildcat quarterback has thrown for 12 touchdowns compared to three interceptions, along with 833 yards and a 64 completion percentage.

Redshirt sophomore cornerback Lorenzo Burns — How is a cornerback without an interception an impact player, you ask? Burns had five picks last season, and he is still Arizona’s best cover corner. He’ll be given the task of lining up against Sun Devil star N’Keal Harry, if we don’t hear Harry’s name a lot on Saturday, it’ll be due from the play of Burns.