SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — In his first start, Jason Shelley ran for two touchdowns and Armand Shyne had 174 yards rushing to power Utah past Oregon 32-25 on Saturday.
The Utes (7-3, 5-3 Pac-12) lost Tyler Huntley, their starting quarterback, and running back Zack Moss, who had already rushed for 1,092 yards this season, to injury within a few days of each other.
Shelley utilized quick passes, a strong running game and some misdirection in the offense to pass for 262 yards. The redshirt freshman completed 18 of 31 passes with no interceptions.
On a drive keyed by a 36-yard pass to Jaylen Dixon, Shelley punched in the go-ahead touchdown from 2 yards out with 6:48 to play.
The Utah defense, which dominated in the first quarter and then was on its collective heels when Justin Herbert starting finding receivers all over the field, stopped the Ducks (6-4, 3-4) on the ensuing possession when Jaylon Johnson broke up a fourth-down pass.
Herbert went 20-for-33 for 288 yards but was sacked four times and simply ran out of time. Dillon Mitchell caught eight passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns, including multiple acrobatic grabs.
Utah lost more than 80 percent of their offensive firepower when Huntley broke his collarbone at Arizona State and Moss hurt his knee this week at practice.
Shyne’s running prowess bolstered a sustained drive that gobbled up Oregon’s time outs and culminated in Matt Gay’s sixth field goal from 24 yards — a new Utah team record. That left the Ducks only 15 seconds to try and score.
Kano Dillon blocked a punt at the Utah 3-yard-line, which led to Herbert’s touchdown pass to Travis Dye. Herbert rolled out to his right again and hit Jaylon Redd for a two-point conversion and Oregon led for the first time, 25-22.
Both team wore helmets with wings — no surprise with Oregon’s fashion history but the Utes also displayed hand-painted red-tailed hawk feathers. The Utes took flight first and led 13-0 on a field goal from Gay, who has now made 18 consecutive attempts.
BIG PICTURE
Utah: The only major drawback to the Shelley-led attack was failing to finish drives. Gay bailed out the offense, including a 55-yarder on the final play of the first half to make it 19-7.
Oregon: The Ducks began the day two games behind Washington State in the Pac-12 North and their loss, along with WSU’s 31-7 win over Colorado, eliminated Oregon from contention in the division.
UP NEXT
The Ducks play host to Arizona State — which has won three in a row, including a 38-20 win over Utah — next Saturday.
Utah travels to Boulder to take on Colorado next Saturday.
