SALT LAKE CITY — While dealing with the loss of two of their best offensive players, Utah rebounded well and managed to squeak past the visiting Oregon Ducks Saturday in a 32-25 win.

Led by redshirt freshman Jason Shelley and running back Armand Shyne, Utah’s offense proved they could do just enough to keep the team afloat in the race for a Pac-12 South Division title. While not perfect, Utah's offense stayed composed and got the win despite losing the lead in the fourth quarter.

The defense, too, stepped up and improved upon its lackluster performance against Arizona State and attacked the Ducks with a renewed sense of aggression and physicality. As a result, Utah negated much of the star power of the Oregon offense and secured another win.

The following are three takeaways from Utah’s win.

Jason Shelley is the real deal

Now before we get too carried away, Shelley was not perfect Saturday. But for his first collegiate start, he ran the Utah offense well without a noticeable drop-off in play. The redshirt freshman stayed composed in the pocket and completed timely passes to receivers to move the chains.

Following Tyler Huntley’s season-ending injury at Arizona State, the sky was seemingly falling and there was little hope the Utah offense could pick up where Huntley left off. But Shelley proved he’s more than capable.

Shelley finished the game throwing for 262 yards on 18-of-31 passing, and managed two rushing touchdowns of his own. In total, the offense logged an impressive 494 yards of total offense. Head coach Kyle Whittingham said Troy Taylor, Utah’s offensive coordinator and quarterback coach, prepared Shelley well and put him in a position to succeed against the Ducks.

“Coach Taylor did a great job preparing him for the game,” Whittingham said. “He does a great job preparing for the game as well on his own — watching film and doing things that all the really good quarterbacks do.”

In total, Shelley proved he can sling the ball and can be a visible leader on the field, even when the team’s back is against the wall after losing a lead. There’s obviously more that he can learn, but it’s an encouraging start for Utah to not really miss a step with Shelley in under center.

Defense locked up the Ducks

The Utah defense needed a restart after their poor performance against Arizona State last week. And fortunately for Utah, the defense bounced back with a fire lit under them. The defensive front put pressure on Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert and forced him into bad throwing decisions.

The Utes held Oregon to only 4 yards of total offense in the first quarter, taking away their skills players. In total, Utah would hold Oregon to 405 yards of total offense and limit them to only 117 rushing yards — the fewest yards the Ducks have rushed against Utah since the Utes joined the league.

Linebackers Cody Barton and Chase Hansen combined for 24 tackles and 6.5 tackles for loss as the team’s leaders. The pair also managed one sack apiece, while Barton also forced a fumble.

But the biggest difference in the game came when Utah coaches moved Jaylon Johnson to cover Oregon star receiver Dillon Mitchell.

Prior to the move, Mitchell was getting everything he wanted against corner Julian Blackmon. But when Johnson entered the scene, he matched Mitchell's physicality and essentially locked him up in the second half. The biggest moment came when Oregon was facing a fourth-and-five situation and Johnson broke up the pass to force the turnover on downs.

All around, the defense made big improvements and returned to being the Utah defense we’ve come to know throughout the season.

Red zone offense needed some work

Not all was great with the Utah win. Utah could not find a way to punch it in the end zone despite being within the 5-yard line on four drives. The offense would settle for four of Matt Gay’s six field goals on the night, but could have managed 28 points instead of 12. That's a lot of points to leave on the board, particularly in a game vital to keeping the team's South title chances alive.

While some points are better than none, Utah has to find a way with Shelley to not trade touchdowns for field goals. That’s not to say that Shelley is to blame; he ran the plays well for what was called. It comes down to the offensive line getting more push up front, and Shyne and the other running backs finding some aggression at the goal line.

This is the area of the game where Utah really missed Zack Moss. Undoubtedly Moss would have punched it into the red zone with relative ease. Shyne is capable of making that same impact, but he needs some blocking help to make sure Utah even has a chance. Oregon was pretty stout in their goal-line defense, but Utah would have been capable of more there tonight.

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