This was the Bo Nix show from the get-go and barely a contest as Nix threw for two TD’s, rushed for two more, and even received a TD pass from his Sophomore Tailback Bucky Irving. In a unique twist on a birthday present Josh Conerly Jr., an offensive tackle, changed his jersey number to become an eligible receiver—catching a 4 yard TD pass from Nix on the 6th play of their first drive to go up 7-0 with under three minutes gone in the 1st Qtr. The Ducks would score a touchdown four of the five times they had possession of the ball in the first half and three of five times in the second half.
The game was never close with Colorado unable to score at all in the 1st and 4th Qtr, held to a single TD in the second and a field goal in the third. The Ducks led 14-0 after the 1st, 28-to-7 after the 2nd, 42-to-10 after the 3rd, and 49-10 when all was said and done. Colorado QB J. T. Shrout threw for quite a few yards, 247, while connecting half the time for a TD but also 2 picks—both leading to Oregon TD’s. The Buffaloes rushed 36 times for 120 yards but never made it into the end zone while the Ducks carried the ball 39 times for almost 200 yards and 4 TD’s with Sophomore RB Noah Whittington and LB Noah Sewell picking up the other two that Nix didn’t. In the air Nix was deadly accurate connecting over 80% of the time for 274 yards, 2 TD’s, and no interceptions while rushing 9 times for 16 yards and two of his other three scores.
According to the AP Recap for ESPN; “The Ducks are the first FBS team to have a receiving TD from an O-lineman, a receiving score from a QB and a rushing TD by a defensive player in the same game since at least 1996, according to research provided by Oregon.” Regarding that Head Coach Dan Lanning had this to say; “When you’re a team that’s complete and you’re hard to predict, it’s harder to really prepare for you. For us, they’re not really trick plays when you execute them consistently in practice.”
Just like USC, UCLA, and Utah, Oregon did what they needed to do to stay in the race for the PAC-12 Championship and are currently undefeated in conference play and sitting on top. Interestingly enough however, they have three games in a row that are by no means a sure thing in which they could easily lose one or more. The Ducks are at the top of the PAC-12 in total yards of offense per game at 520 but the Huskies, who they host this next Saturday, only trail by 25 and actually lead the conference in passing yards per game at 370 compared to 289 for the Ducks. If Washington can beat Oregon they’ll do it in the air. For the Ducks to win they’ll need to concentrate on their ground game where they are 2nd in the PAC-12 only to UCLA but miles ahead of the Huskies—231-to-125. It should be close, within a TD if they both play a clean game, but advantage goes to Oregon playing at home. After that they’ll have a tough Utah team that has to win to stay in, also at home fortunately for them. But then it’s off to Corvallis to meet a better Oregon State team than the one that beat them two years ago on their home court where they haven’t lost all year long. For Colorado it’s off to the Coliseum to become another notch on Lincoln Riley’s belt.