Washington Football: 3 takeaways from Pac-12 title win over Utah
By Zach Bigalke
2. Jason Shelley showed his inexperience on Friday night for Utah
When Tyler Huntley went down with a broken collarbone against Arizona State, Jason Shelley stepped up and took over the spot under center. He struggled against the Sun Devils in the loss on the road, but looked solid in the next three wins against Oregon, Colorado, and BYU.
That promise came crashing to the Levi’s Stadium turf on Friday night, as Shelley finished the night with only 137 yards through the air and three interceptions on 17-of-27 passing. It was a disappointing result for a team with dreams of its first Rose Bowl in school history.
The Utes had the ball late, and Shelley had a few completions that looked promising. But he danced around too much in the backfield, taking a couple of sacks and throwing multiple ill-advised balls beyond the three picks.
One big counterfactual hanging over this championship game will be what might have happened in this contest had Huntley not been injured. As it was, the youngster couldn’t get the job done for Utah in the biggest game of the season.