Jason Shelley etched his name in Utah-BYU rivalry lore with comeback performance, unexpected hurdle

SALT LAKE CITY — Jason Shelley etched his name into Utah-BYU rivalry lore, leading a second-half comeback that proved his resilience and earned the Utes their eight straight victory against the Cougars.

And the redshirt freshman did it with a lot of poise and a little flair.

“This game was the biggest game of the season for us,” Shelley said of Utah’s 35-27 victory at Rice-Eccles. “So we knew we had to keep the streak alive, and now we can worry about (next week).”

Last year, Shelley was the team’s third-string quarterback, a true freshman, just trying to understand the emotional energy of a nearly 100-year-old rivalry. This year, the rivalry game was his third start after he took over during the Arizona State loss when Tyler Huntley was injured.

“It was exactly what I expected,” said Shelley, who wasn’t allowed to talk with the media in the week leading up to Saturday’s game. “Last year was kind of a learning experience on the sideline, (you) could feel the energy, and then this year, came out and you could tell right away this was a serious game.”

Unfortunately, Utah didn’t play with the intensity that Shelley described. BYU owned a 20-0 lead at halftime, and Shelley was just 6-of-12 with 49 passing yards. He had just 15 yards rushing in the first two quarters, and Utah as a team only managed 37 rushing yards.

It wasn’t for lack of effort.

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On Utah’s second possession of the second quarter, Shelley hurdled BYU cornerback Keenan Ellis in a jaw-dropping display of athleticism.

“It was crazy,” he said in the post-game press conference to laughter. “I started a trend. What’s crazy is … I’ve never hurdled anybody before, and I tell people, ‘Don’t hurdle. It’s dangerous, and not the right thing to do.’ That was a reflex. I’m not going to lie to you.”

Unfortunately, it didn’t do much to spark the offense, which Shelley said was plagued with mistakes.

“As a unit, we executed more,” he said of the second half. “The first half, we always had a couple of guys not doing the right assignment or a couple of guys not making plays. We just came together and executed.”

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said BYU’s defensive front made establishing a ground game difficult.

“They have a stout front seven,” Whittingham said. “It’s tough sledding inside, and they do a nice job of pushing outside. We did not get good movement on their big, physical guys.”

The absence of a run game made it difficult for Utah’s offense to get anything going, but Shelley said the momentum began to shift when cornerback Julian Blackmon, who broke his finger earlier in the game, intercepted a pass and ran it 27 yards for a touchdown.

“It sparked a lot,” Shelley said of Blackmon’s pick-six. “We were kind of in a slump, and we needed someone to make a play on offense. And Julian supported the offense with a defensive play. It gave us some energy, some life, and we capitalized on it.”

The tide really turned for Utah late in the third quarter when Shelley found wide receiver Samson Nacua in the back of the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown pass that was the first of 28 unanswered points.

Shelley scored the game’s final touchdown on a 33-yard run on first down that no one, not even him, expected.

“I was just trying to run out the clock, and then there was a lot of grass,” he said. “So I figured, I could seal the game with a touchdown.”

Whittingham praised Shelley’s resilience and leadership. Shelley ended with 141 yards, connecting on 19 of 28 tries, while leading Utah in rushing yards (61).

“Jason is unflappable and nothing seems to bother him,” Whittingham said. “He has a short memory. He did not really do anything bad, but BYU came in with a solid game plan to keep things in front of them.”