Take Two: Does Khalil Tate deserve a seat at the Heisman table?

Take Two returns with a daily offering tackling a handful of issues in the college football landscape. Rivals.com National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and a local expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites.

MORE TAKE TWO: Can Miami regain its status as a recruiting superpower?

For the first time in Pac-12 history, someone was named Offensive Player of the Week for the fourth time in a row. That player is Khalil Tate, the Arizona quarterback who has taken the conference by storm and could emerge as a serious Heisman Trophy contender.

Since taking over the starting job four games ago, the former Gardena (Calif.) Serra four-star has rushed for 327 yards and four touchdowns against Colorado, 230 yards and two scores against UCLA, 137 yards and one score against Cal and 146 yards and one TD this past weekend against Washington State.

All Arizona wins. So far this season, Tate has rushed for 926 yards and eight touchdowns, averaging more than 13 yards per carry. He’s also thrown for 784 yards with six TDs and three interceptions.

Tate’s rushing yards put him No. 13 nationally behind Heisman hopefuls RB Bryce Love (Stanford), RB Jonathan Taylor (Wisconsin), RB Josh Adams (Notre Dame), QB Lamar Jackson (Louisville) but ahead of Penn State running back Saquon Barkley.

Remember, though, Tate has only played in six games this season and has played the majority of only four contests after quarterback Brandon Dawkins went down with injury. Imagine what his numbers would be if he played the entire season like all the names mentioned above.

Should that matter in Heisman consideration? Does it matter that he plays for Arizona, not widely regarded as a national program? Should Arizona’s 6-2 record help or hurt Tate’s Heisman hopes? The question is: If Tate continues to put up such astronomical numbers, does he deserve a seat in New York City for the Heisman Trophy or have others had more memorable seasons?

“I do think Khalil Tate belongs in the Heisman discussion and a lot of it has to do with the numbers, of course, but also what he has done to elevate this year’s team and the program to a new level. Arizona felt like a program on the verge of losing its head coach back in September with fans actively voicing their opinion for change. There were some positives, but nobody had Arizona in the mix for the Pac-12 South. Flash forward a month and now the Wildcats are right where any other program would want to be. Most of the credit goes to Tate. He has energized the team with his confidence and explosive play. He is putting up numbers not often seen at Arizona and against Colorado he had a performance never before seen by an FBS quarterback.

“When you talk about what it takes to win the Heisman a lot of it has to do with consistency and Tate has displayed that since taking over the job. Arizona remains unbeaten in that time and he continues to put up monster stats every game. Keeping it moving will be the challenge for Tate as he has only faced one stout defense in that time and that could be a concern moving forward, but right now he is on some kind of roll. If anyone watched Tate in high school, all of this doesn’t come as a surprise, however, as he ran a similar system. These days he simply looks like an improved version of that player from Serra. He’s a little bit faster and a little more accurate with his throws and it has made for a convincing case to at least get him a a seat at the table with the rest of the Heisman candidates.”

“No, and the reason I say that is because there are no signature games. I don’t see any signature wins. I see stats. Last year, you had Lamar Jackson putting up crazy numbers but Louisville beat some good football teams and they were highly-ranked.

“Right now, the best win would be Washington State this past weekend. You’re not going to get to New York beating NAU, UTEP, Colorado, UCLA and Cal. It hypes it up if Arizona beats USC this weekend but he’s going to have to put up crazy numbers. He’s going to have to rush for 1,500 yards or something insane to get there. He could clear 1,500 yards and he could end up potentially clearing 1,500 passing yards as well. Then you might start to see something.

“I know Tate didn’t start from the beginning of the season but it would take insane numbers and he just doesn’t have the time left to be considered. He’s playing for a team not many people care about. It’s nice, they’re winning, but they’re beating nobody.”