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SALT LAKE CITY — The only thing slowing down No. 8 Oregon Saturday afternoon was a delay of game penalty on the first play of the game.
After the early mistake, Oregon (7-1, 4-1 Pac-12) quarterback Bo Nix and the offense had its way against No. 13 Utah's defense en route to a 35-6 win at Rice-Eccles Stadium, the first win for an opponent in 19 tries against the Utes.
Oregon's offense utilized an uptempo scheme to keep Utah's defense on its toes, and Nix led the Ducks down the field with precision on six plays on the opening drive to get the visiting team in the end zone. Running back Bucky Irving broke several tackles for a 16-yard pickup, and Nix finished the job with a 1-yard rushing touchdown.
It was the closest Utah (6-2, 3-2 Pac-12) would sniff to a close game after ESPN College GameDay came to Salt Lake City to showcase a game that was expected to be more competitive. But Utah didn't have the same firepower to contend with an Oregon team expected to compete for a College Football Playoff spot.
"Not a lot of positives in that game for us," Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. "That's as thoroughly and soundly we've been beaten in a long time, particularly at home here. Give Oregon credit, they are a complete football team, just like I've been saying all week long — tremendous talent, size, quickness, athleticism, depth, both sides of the ball, and they took it to us. We really didn't get much done in any phase of the game."
Oregon went on to put up two more scores in the first half, including an 18-yard toss from Nix to Jordan James and then a 3-yard toss to Troy Franklin after ducking a Utah defender to deliver the pass on a rope. It was there where Nix showcased why he's considered a Heisman Trophy contender and currently the best quarterback in the country in passing completion percentage.
"I don't want to diminish what they did today at all because the score wasn't indicative — the game was a mismatch," Whittingham said. "It was worse than what the score indicated."
Utah defensive tackle Junior Tafuna managed a forced fumble and recovery on Oregon's second drive of the game after Utah had a turnover on downs deep in Oregon territory on their first possession. But Utah couldn't get much going and was forced to settle for a 32-yard field goal by Cole Becker, the first of two scores from the placekicker.
Utah's defense also managed to force Oregon to punt twice at the end of the first half, but Nix and the Oregon offense made adjustments and went back to scoring on the first drive of the second half, a 12-play, 76-yard drive that was capped off with a 9-yard rushing touchdown by Irving to give the Ducks a 28-6 lead.
The Utes attempted to manufacture some momentum with a catch in the end zone by Mikey Matthews on the ensuing kickoff, who then threw a backward pass to Dijon Stanley for a 49-yard return. But Utah quarterback Bryson Barnes threw an interception on the first play of the drive, and Oregon went down the field with ease and scored again.
This time it was a 5-yard run into the end zone by Traeshon Holden to cap off a five-play, 52-yard drive. And with the score, a multitude of fans at Rice-Eccles Stadium had seen enough and started to head to the parking lot with the cold and windy conditions no longer bearable to take in the blowout.
Nix finished the game throwing for 248 yards and two touchdowns on 24-of-31 passing, while also adding a 1-yard rushing touchdown. On the other side of the ball, Barnes suffered his first loss as a starter and finished throwing for 136 yards and two interceptions on 15-of-29 passing.
"They're very deserving of their ranking and I've got a ton of respect for what they're doing up there," Whittingham said. "They took it to us today, and so we've got to regroup, get back in the film room on Monday, and figure out what our deficiencies were, which there appeared to be a lot."
