Arizona somehow overcomes maddening interception

The play was a beauty: nimble, athletic, tenacious and willful.

It was also bungling, dumb, bonkers and entirely confounding.

Anu Solomon will only eventually be as good as Anu Solomon will let him, and that much was abundantly clear on a beautiful Saturday night at Tucson Stadium.

On a night that saw him finish with 277 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, 86 rushing yards and a rushing TD in a 37-30 overtime win over the visiting Utah Utes, Solomon will be remembered most for an escaped-sack-turned-woeful-interception.

It was wonderful turned into blunderful, and it was costly.

After Utah scored on a 59-yard Travis Wilson-to-Harris Handley connection less than a minute into the second half — a score that put the Utes on top, 24-20, for their first lead of the day — Arizona moved the ball quickly on its ensuing possession.

Three first downs — two through the air, and a Solomon 10-yard run — set the Wildcats up with a third-and-6 from the Utes’ 20-yard line.

Solomon took the snap, moved to his right and felt pressure, then was chased down by Utah defensive tackle Lowell Lotulelei, only to spin counterclockwise while slipping the grip of the Ute big man. He settled his feet, readied his arm, and uncorked a feeble attempt to the side of the end zone.

If Solomon was trying to throw it to David Richards, streaking toward the back of the end zone, he didn’t throw it with enough finesse. If he was trying to throw it out of bounds to preserve a field goal attempt, he didn’t throw it hard enough.

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Either way, a leaping Brian Allen snagged the ball and dragged his foot, coming up with the interception in the end zone, and Utah took the ensuing possession down the field for a 5-minute, 19-second drive, capped off by a 38-yard Andy Phillips field goal that put the Utes up 27-20.

""He played pretty well, but not on that interception," UA coach Rich Rodriguez said. "I thought Anu really ran well, and he could've run well on that one. He's a better athlete than maybe sometimes he projects."

Part of the egregiousness of Solomon’s wayward throw was that it was just so out of character.

Derailed part of the year by a concussion and limited in his effectiveness at times this season, Solomon has nonetheless been incredibly careful with the ball. He threw no interceptions through Week 8 — though he left Arizona’s 56-30 loss to UCLA with the head injury and missed the ensuing game against Stanford — and entering Saturday’s game, he’d thrown only three picks on the season.

Ultimately one play could not derail what was a fantastic performance against one of the best defenses in the conference, if not the country.

Solomon started the game 9-of-13 passing and finished 17-of-27 before exiting with 9:25 left in regulation.

Why did he exit? Coincidentally, another scramble gone awry.

Solomon broke off a 10-yard run on a 2nd-and-11 from the Arizona 19-yard line, only to take a helmet-to-helmet hit from defensive end Jason Fanaika. Jerrard Randall entered the game.

Four plays later, Randall threw an interception.