There are a lot of things Anu Solomon considers himself experienced in.
Handling losses? Not one of them.
When Arizona fell Saturday to USC, it marked just the fourth time since 2009 he lost a game.
Solomon went 57-3 over four years as the starter at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, and then — after redshirting at the UA a year ago — started this season 5-0.
On Saturday night, his streak ended. USC outlasted the Cats 28-26 following a dramatic fourth quarter.
“It was definitely hard,” Solomon said. “It was something I thought of all night, but the next day you just have to move on. There are times in life when you have to forget about things and just move on.”
And that’s what he’s doing.
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The quarterback enters the UA’s final bye week of the season having thrown for 2,136 yards, 15 touchdowns and four interceptions. On Wednesday, he was added to the Maxwell Award Watch List, which recognizes the top player in college football.
He may have finally lost a game, but people have still noticed the strides he has made in six games.
Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez is among them.
The coach has praised his quarterback’s poise, decision-making and ability at various points throughout the first half of the season.
But Solomon enters the second half with plenty to work on and clean up. Tops on the list may be his accuracy on down-field throws.
Of Solomon’s 174 completions this season, 44 have gone for more than 15 yards and 16 have gained more than 25.
Cal’s Jared Goff has 152 completions on the season; 47 have gone for more than 15 yards and 26 have gone more than 25.
Goff, Oregon’s Marcus Mariota, Stanford’s Kevin Hogan and Arizona State’s Mike Bercovici all have a better percentage of completing passes of at least 15 yards than Solomon.
Solomon has missed on some throws because of his inaccuracy — overthrowing balls — and some on miscommunications with his receivers.
It’s something Rodriguez would like to do better, but he also doesn’t have a huge gripe with it.
“It’s a little bit different for us,” Rodriguez said. “Our quarterback has to make a lot of awkward throws; so he’s not in perfect balance with his feet under him in a typical quarterback stance. He’s throwing on the run, off his back foot, his front foot, but that’s what we do. That’s what we practice. It’s not uncommon for us to work on that, but sometimes it’s harder to be accurate.
“At times, it’s been inaccurate, but for the most part, he’s been really accurate on some of the tougher throws.”
Rodriguez also said sometimes it looks like Solomon’s accuracy is off or he’s making a bad decision when really it’s someone else’s fault. He used the USC game as an example.
“In watching that game, there were three or four instances that maybe to the person who didn’t know the plays or the system would say, ‘Hey, he’s holding onto the ball or doing this’ when it was a complete bust by somebody else; a wide receiver or something like that where it makes the quarterback not look good.”
Solomon said he can improve his down-field accuracy by studying film to learn defensive tendencies and simply executing better.
“I need to work on making big plays and being explosive throughout the entire game,” Solomon said.
Of course, down-field accuracy isn’t the only thing Solomon is working on as the second half approaches.
The other biggie is his first-half production. Solomon has a quarterback rating of 123.84 in the first half and 161.62 in the second half.
He has thrown five touchdowns to four interceptions in the first half, compared to 10 touchdowns and no picks in the second.
“I can’t slack off in the first half and continue to do what I do best in the second half,” Solomon said. “It’s something I have to correct.”
Extra points
- Solomon wasn’t the only UA player recognized Wednesday.
Sophomore linebacker Scooby Wright was added to the Bednarik Award Watch List, given to the top defensive player in the nation.
Wright, who has 70 tackles, 11 tackles-for-loss and six sacks, was also named to Sports Illustrated’s midseason All-America team announced Wednesday. He’s one of four linebackers on the squad.
The linebacker is on pace for 140 tackles, which would be the most since Byron Evans had 196 in 1986.
