Bo Nix caps college career with 5 TDs for Oregon in Fiesta Bowl win

Bo Nix rolled out to his right early in the second quarter while calmly surveying the field before flinging the ball across his body and into the end zone — a perfectly placed dart to Gary Bryant Jr. for a 2-yard touchdown.

The Oregon quarterback exuded the confidence of a man who has made throws like that before.

That’s because he has. Many, many times.

The Heisman Trophy finalist’s five-year college football odyssey came to an end on Monday when the 8th-ranked Ducks beat No. 18 Liberty 45-6 in a lopsided Fiesta Bowl. Nix finishes his career — which included three years at Auburn before two at Oregon — as one of the most productive quarterbacks in NCAA history.

That would have been hard to imagine just a few years ago.

The 23-year-old took advantage of a fifth year of eligibility that he gained because of the COVID-19 pandemic to make 61 career starts, which is the most ever in the Football Bowl Subdivision. He finishes with 15,352 career passing yards (fifth in FBS), trailing only Case Keenum, Timmy Chang, Landry Jones and Graham Harrell. His 16,965 total yards are second behind Keenum.

Nix’s Fiesta Bowl numbers were typical of his production over the past two years: 28 of 35 passing for 363 yards and five touchdowns. His accuracy on Monday allowed him to break the NCAA’s single-season record for completion percentage: Nix connected on 77.44% of his passes, surpassing Mac Jones, who had 77.36% accuracy for Alabama in 2020.

The Ducks fell into an early 6-0 hole before the quarterback went to work on Liberty’s overmatched defense, hitting Bryant for the 2-yard touchdown, Terrance Ferguson for another 2-yard score, Kenyon Sadiq for a 3-yard touchdown and Traeshon Holden for a 17-yard TD and a 31-6 lead just before halftime.

Nix’s final passing touchdown of the afternoon — his fifth, which tied a Fiesta Bowl record — came early in the third quarter on a trick play with a reverse and then a flea-flicker. The quarterback handed off to Tez Johnson, who handed off to Bryant, who flipped back to Nix, who calmly threw it to Johnson for a 24-yard touchdown.

It was an exclamation point for Nix, whose career was resurrected at Oregon after an awkward split with Auburn following three up-and-down seasons. The Pinson, Alabama, native was the Southeastern Conference‘s Freshman of the Year in 2019, but struggled with consistency as the Tigers suffered through disappointing seasons in 2020 and 2021.

But Oregon coach Dan Lanning — a fellow SEC transplant who was familiar with Nix as an assistant at Georgia — saw some untapped potential.

He was absolutely right.

Oregon’s had no shortage of great quarterbacks over the past decade, ranging from Justin Herbert to Marcus Mariota, but Nix is right there with them. The quarterback was a big reason the Ducks were in the College Football Playoff hunt throughout this season. A pair of three-point losses to Washington, including one in the Pac-12 Championship game, ended that dream.

Like most of the Ducks, Nix was hurting after the second loss to the Huskies. With the NFL in his future, many thought the quarterback might opt out of the Fiesta Bowl and prepare for the draft.

Nix decided to play one more game.

“You go the whole season, you’re playing and you’re going week by week, and things get crazy,” Nix said earlier this week. “When you get to the bowl game, it’s like your last hurrah for the whole team and your last time to be together to maximize that time with your teammates and coach.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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