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SALT LAKE CITY — Consider Jason Shelley's first test passed.
The new starting Utah quarterback completed 18-of-31 passes for 262 yards, and ran for two scores in Utah's 32-25 win over the visiting Oregon Ducks Saturday.
Utah needed some late-game heroics after Oregon took its first lead of the game in the fourth quarter after a Mitch Wishnowsky blocked punt set up a 3-yard passing touchdown to Travis Dye.
Utah, though, would march the distance of the field, with the help of a 36-yard catch from Jaylen Dixon, to set up a 2-yard rushing touchdown from Shelley to score the game-winning touchdown.
On the ensuing drive, corner Jaylon Johnson made a fourth-down pass breakup to give Utah the ball back with time winding down. Utah would milk the clock with an effective run strategy by running back Armand Shyne and would eventually take a 7-point lead on a Matt Gay field goal from 24-yards out.
With only 11 seconds left for Oregon to equalize, quarterback Justin Herbert completed a 28-yard pass to gain a first down, but wasn't able to spike the ball before time expired. Herbert would finish the game throwing for 288 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Ducks.
Utah’s offense put up 494 yards of total offense in the first half despite missing quarterback Tyler Huntley and running back Zack Moss due to season-ending injuries this week.
Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham credited Shelley and Shyne for stepping up and leading Utah's offense in their first starts of the season.
“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Jason Shelley and Armand Shyne. Armand rushed for about 175 yards and was just a huge plus for us. Jason took care of the football and ran the offense very well — zero turnovers," Whittingham said. "So for a redshirt freshman in his first collegiate start against a darn good opponent, I’m very proud of what he did."
Shyne finished the game with 174 yards on 26 attempts. He averaged 6.7 yards per carry and helped establish a 232-yard rushing performance by the team as a whole.
Utah took a first-half lead behind four field goals by placekicker Matt Gay, including a made 55-yard field goal at the end of the half to give Utah a 19-7 lead going into the locker room. Gay finished the night with six made field goals, for a school record.
Utah’s only touchdown of the first half came on a delayed 2-yard rush by Shelley — the first of his collegiate career.
The Utah defense held the Ducks to only 136 yards of total offense in the first half as the Utes took away the run game and limited Oregon’s passing attacks. Herbert, though, did drive the field at ease in the second quarter to find a streaking Dillon Mitchell for a 34-yard touchdown pass for the only score of the half.
Much of Oregon’s production on offense came in the second half as they finished with 405 total yards; however, at the end of the first quarter, the Ducks had only managed 4 total yards of offense.
