Bo Nix played high school football at Pinson Valley in Alabama where he threw for over 12,000 yards and 161 TD’s while winning Alabama’s Mr Football Award his senior year. Rated the top dual-threat quarterback of his class by 247Sports he was recruited by and committed to play for Auburn University. He was named the starting QB for Auburn in 2019, his very first year, and ironically led them to a comeback victory against the Oregon Ducks in their season opener. Five years later, after three years at Auburn and now in his second year at Oregon, he has thrown for just shy of 13,000 yards and 87 TD’s. And in Oregon’s 38-24 win over Washington State this past Saturday he threw for 293 yards and 2 TD’s while also setting the NCAA record for most career starts at 54—a stat that will really stand out to NFL teams who are looking to draft a QB that can hit the ground running.
The game got off to a slow start with both teams teams having to turn the ball back over after initial six play drives, Washington State after a punt and Oregon after a missed field goal attempt. On their second possessions both teams hit field goals at the end of seven play drives with Dean Janikowski hitting one from 36 yards out for the Cougars and Camden Lewis from 27 yards out to tie the score at three a piece. After being held to a three-and-out Washington State would go ahead on their next possession at the end of a 97 yard, 7 play drive, including four passes from Cameron Ward totaling 89 yards and two 4 yard Nakia Watson runs–one into the end zone to go up 10-3. But Oregon would tie it up and go ahead on back-to-back possessions and 2 yard TD runs by Bucky Irving and Bo Nix to go up 17-10 with less than a minute left in the half. One Cameron Ward pass of 41 yards and run of 12 would get the Cougars 1st and 10 at the Oregon 22 yard line with 30 seconds left. After picking up another six yards and throwing two incomplete passes Washington State would send Dean Janikowski back in who hit a 33 yard field goal to make it 17-13 at the break.
The second half started just like the first with neither team making any headway during their first attempts. But after that the Ducks would score TD’s on back-to-back-to-back possessions. The first on a 42 yard TD pass by Bo Nix to Bucky Irving; the second a 43 yard TD by Irving; and the third a 17 yard Bo Nix pass to Tez Johnson. With Janikowski hitting another field goal after the first of those TD’s, this one from 50 yards out, that made the score 38-16 with just under nine minutes left in the 4th Qtr. The Cougars would close the gap to 38-24 on a 16 yard TD pass from Cameron Ward to Isaiah Hamilton but with only a minute left in the game. The onside kick by Janikowski failed and after starting their season 4-0 and ranking as high as 13th on the AP Top-25, Washington State lost their third game in a row. The Cougars will try and get their act back together on the road as they head to Arizona to take on the Sun Devils while Oregon hits the road to take on a Utah team that seems to have found its groove offensively.