The status of Arizona (6-5) quarterback Anu Solomon is up in the air headed into Saturday’s Territorial Cup game against Arizona State (5-5).
Solomon suffered a concussion late in the win over Utah over the weekend when he took a helmet-to-helmet hit on a slide. Wildcats coach Rich Rodriguez said Monday that Solomon “felt good” on Sunday, but his availability is up to the training staff.
“He felt good yesterday. The trainers were optimistic. He will be day-to-day,” Rodriguez said. “We have a great medical staff, a great training staff, and they know proper protocol with all injuries. They make the determination whether a guy can go in and play. If they tell Anu he can play then we will let him play.”
Rodriguez said the school would send a complaint to the Pac-12 offices about the hit, which occurred midway through the fourth quarter. Utah’s Jason Fanaika hit Solomon as he slid feet-first to the turf and it looked like Fanaika led with his helmet, but targeting was not called.
At the very least, Rodriguez said, the officials could have initially ruled it a targeting foul so the hit could be further examined via replay.
“At the heat of the moment it's hard. If you don't call a flag initially, you can't review it and say, 'oh it is a penalty'. If you do call a penalty then you can review and obviously see whether it’s right or not. That is what makes it more difficult from an official’s standpoint at the time,” Rodriguez said.
“From where I was sitting from, it looked like it could have been helmet to helmet. The pictures show that it could have been a possible target. We are going to send it to the league. I don't know what they will do about it right now, but they will at least talk to the officials about it whether they agree with us or not.”
Even with Solomon out of action for the rest of the game, Arizona was able to pull out a win in double-overtime behind a touchdown pass from backup quarterback Jerrard Randall to Nate Phillips.
In other injury news, Rodriguez announced Monday that linebacker Jake Matthews will miss the rest of the season with a foot injury. Rodriguez said Matthews is scheduled to have surgery on Friday.
Matthews, a junior, is sixth on the team with 43 tackles in 10 games. He also has two tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. A former walk-on, Matthews played mainly outside linebacker and special teams during his first two seasons with the Wildcats, but moved inside due to a bevy of injuries at the position this season.
“Jake is a really good athlete and he has earned his scholarship,” Rodriguez said. “I am really proud of him. He was playing really well then his injury happened. He will have surgery Friday. It will be a process, he will be out for the spring but he should be good to go for next fall.”
For more Arizona news, visit GOAZCats.com.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!