The Oregon Ducks are in sunny San Diego to take on the North Carolina Tar Heels in the first Holiday Bowl since back in 2019 when Iowa hung 49 on USC in a resounding victory.
In fact, the Pac-12 hasn’t won a Holiday Bowl since 2014, giving coach Dan Lanning a chance to get the conference back on track against a very solid UNC squad.
It would be a feather in the cap of a very successful first year for Lanning. In fact, Tar Heels coach Mack Brown spoke to reporters on Monday and commended the job Lanning has done at Oregon in his first season.
“We’re excited to play Oregon,” Brown said. “Dan has done an amazing job. First-year coaches, it’s really hard. He didn’t recruit most of those guys. He goes out in his first game and has a tough game with Georgia and then pulls them all back together and regroups. And that could have been a turning point for him in a bad way because he didn’t know a lot of those kids, and he has done an amazing job of pulling it together and keeping it together and putting himself in a position to have a great team.”
Lanning’s team was in the thick of the CFP hunt for most of the season, thanks to a resurgent season from Bo Nix and a dominant performance from transfer running backs Bucky Irving and Noah Whittington – in part due to an experienced and talented offensive line.
UNC had a great season as well, with quarterback Drake Maye having an outstanding season that had him, along with Nix, in Heisman consideration throughout the year.
“They’re a team that is mentioned in the College Football Playoffs every year, and there’s two of the best quarterbacks in college football that are both coming back next year,” Brown continued. “I think both of them have accounted for 42 touchdowns this year. So should be a great game. Should be a lot of fun. I really admire, as I said, what Dan has been able to do with his team.”
Kickoff is slated for 5:00 PM PT on Wednesday, December 28.
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