Dan Lanning evaluates Bo Nix's performance in Pac-12 Championship

Oregon did not come out victorious in the Pac-12 title game to win the league and possibly have sent themselves to the College Football Playoff instead of Washington. However, Ducks head coach Dan Lanning is not placing the blame for the loss on his Heisman finalist quarterback.

Bo Nix may not have put up quite as ridiculous of numbers as he did in some of Oregon’s Pac-12 wins this season, but the veteran passer was still pretty stellar in the title game. He zipped the ball for just 239 total passing yards in round two vs. Washington but found the end zone three times while tossing just one pick.

Oregon was down for much of the game and ultimately came up short in their comeback effort, which really reflected the entire team. In fact, following the game, Coach Lanning has said that Nix was a big part of why the Ducks were even in the game late in the fourth quarter at all.

“Well, I think it just speaks to who Bo is. Obviously he brought us back there to be within one score there at the end. Explosive run. Showed his legs,” Lanning said of Nix. “I thought the guy ran extremely tough tonight. Opportunities he had to run, he put his head down and did everything he could to get the first or explosive plays.”

In addition to the roughly 240 pass yards and three scores through the air, Nix also made plays on the ground when he needed to with six carries for 69 yards. Whatever the senior quarterback needed to do to give his team a chance, he did. That’s all Dan Lanning can ask for.

“Made some elite throws. That last throw in two minute was really special. So Bo did what I’ve seen him do all season: he competed till the very end,” Lanning added. “He handled some adversity. He responded to that. Walking away, I don’t know, three touchdowns, a really long run, I’m impressed with our quarterback.”

For the Oregon head coach, there was absolutely nothing to be disappointed with in Bo Nix’s Pac-12 title game performance. And now, following that game, the Ducks and Nix will get several weeks off before they face the Liberty Flames in the Fiesta Bowl. Liberty is the Group of Five representative in the New Year’s Six and is 13-0 with more more matchup remaining against this Oregon team which narrowly missed the playoff.

As for Bo Nix, before that final game, he will journey to New York City to participate in the Heisman Trophy ceremony as he is a finalist for the award and has long been seen as one of the top contenders for it along side Michael Penix from Washington and Jayden Daniels from LSU.