Joel Klatt makes case for Bo Nix as Heisman contender

Campaigns for The Heisman Trophy are starting to pick up as we reach mid-November. No matter who actually wins it, though, Joel Klatt sees few candidates that are more qualified than Oregon’s Bo Nix.

Klatt examined the Duck’s QB1’s shot at becoming the Heisman during his show on Wednesday. On his ranking, he had Nix at number four behind Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr., and LSU’s Jayden Daniels. Still, Klatt considers him to be firmly in the mix with the scoring and efficincy on his own and of Oregon on offense as a whole.

“Bo Nix at Oregon is playing outstanding,” said Klatt.

“He leads the nation in completion percentage at 77.7%. Oregon is leading the country in scoring offense – No. 1. And he has not had that one game. Even against, like, Washington? He played really well. They outgained Washington by 100 yards. In previous seasons, you could say or you could argue that Bo has thrown out the stinker every now and again. But he really hasn’t this year,” Klatt said. “He has been so consistent, he has been so efficient.”

In his fifth collegiate season, Nix is posting what is by far a career year up in Eugene. In 10 games, he has thrown for 3,135 yards, scored 34 total touchdowns, and has only two interceptions to pair with a completion rate that’s 5.8% better than the next closest percentage as a player.

Now, with two games to go plus a likely appearance in the Pac-12 Championship, Klatt believes it’s up to Nix to decide whether he wins the award or not. If he plays how many would expect in order for Oregon to finish the season at 12-1 and with the Pac-12 title, he thinks Nix could very well leapfrog many, if not all, of the other candidates in New York.

“Nix, like Penix, kind of controls his own narrative,” said Klatt. “If they win out? He would then avenge the only loss that he has, which is Washington. He would have to play well, you would assume, because of what I was talking about with all of his responsibility at the line of scrimmage. And you would think that he’d produce really well. Then, all of a sudden, now you’re sitting there with Bo Nix as your Heisman Trophy winner.”

“If they can win out? He has got a great chance,” Klatt said. “They’ve got the stages, they’ve got the path.”