Senior quarterback Khalil Tate passed for one touchdown and ran 84 yards for another, and Arizona scored late on a 99-yard drive to beat Texas Tech 28-14 on Saturday night in Tucson, Ariz.
The Wildcats (2-1) got the go-ahead points on the first play of the fourth quarter when Gary Brightwell took a pitch to the left and scored from 1 yard out. Brightwell added another 1-yard score with 4:05 left to end the 99-yard march in which Arizona ran on all 13 plays and consumed 7 minutes, 10 seconds.
Tate completed 14 of 23 passes for 185 yards, including a 12-yard score to Stanley Berryhill III in the second quarter. His career-long run came later in the quarter as he kept on a read-option play and zoomed straight ahead through the Red Raiders defense.
Tate was intercepted twice but rushed 17 times for 129 yards, his most since gaining 206 against Oregon State on Nov. 11, 2017.
Texas Tech (2-1) trailed 13-7 at halftime but took a 14-13 lead with 6:08 left in the third quarter when Alan Bowman dropped in a pass to McLane Mannix into the left corner of the end zone for an 8-yard score.
Bowman finished 30 of 55 for 311 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions.
Arizona running back Bam Smith helped the Wildcats' cause with a 46-yard reception and a 40-yard run. Brightwell rushed 21 times for 85 yards.
The Wildcats ran 19 times, without a pass, in the fourth quarter. Arizona ended with 314 rushing yards and 499 total yards.
In a game expected to be a shootout, there were no points and four combined turnovers through nine possessions before Texas Tech struck at the end of the first quarter. A 39-yard sideline pass to a diving T.J. Vasher to the 1 set up a 1-yard touchdown run by SaRodorick Thompson with 49 seconds to go in the quarter.
The Wildcats immediately responded with a 75-yard touchdown drive, capped by the pass to Berryhill, and took the lead on Tate's 84-yard burst with 8:35 to go in the second quarter. Arizona missed the extra point, keeping the score at 13-7.
--Field Level Media
