A lot of Oregon’s weaknesses showed up towards the end of the regular season and unfortunately, not a lot of them were corrected over the last month.
Bo Nix’s injured was still banged up and he was obviously still hampered and the lack of plays down the field was proof. The Ducks couldn’t get anything going offensively, but somehow, some way, Oregon came away with a 28-27 win over North Carolina in the Holiday Bowl.
The offensive coaching staff was in upheaval when former coordinator Kenny Dillingham left to take the job at Arizona State. Maybe that was the reason for the lack of adjustments in the second half. But the inability to adjust on the fly was a problem even before Dillingham took off for the desert.
North Carolina realized that Nix was either unable or unwilling to throw the ball downfield. That allowed the Tar Heel defense to stack the box more than they did in the first half in order to slow down the Ducks running attack.
It was that first half where Bucky Irving went for 107 yards and two touchdowns, including a 66-yard scoring run.
And then with eight minutes to go, the old Bo Nix suddenly showed himself and led the Ducks on two scoring drives, including a touchdown pass to Chase Cota with just 19 seconds left to give the Ducks the win.
But it was the defense that kept Oregon in the game as they held UNC quarterback Drake Maye in check. Cornerback Twikweze Bridges turned into a star and he’ll be the next Christian Gonzalez for the Duck program.
Oregon finishes the season 10-3 and on a major high going into the offseason. Nix comes back, a highly-regarded recruiting class enters Eugene and the Ducks should begin the 2023 season ranked in the Top 10.
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