Bo Nix bolsters Heisman campaign in Oregon's blowout win at Colorado
The Bo Nix Heisman campaign continued to pick up steam on Saturday after another dominant offensive showing from Oregon.
The No. 8 Ducks topped Colorado 49-10 in Boulder to improve to 8-1 on the season and 6-0 in Pac-12 play.
The Ducks are now the only FBS team in the nation to score at least 40 points in eight different games this season.
Nix, the Ducks’ senior quarterback, delivered another stellar performance. He tallied five total touchdowns — two passing, two rushing, and one receiving. Nix finished the afternoon 20-for-24 passing with 274 yards and also ran for 16 yards on nine carries.
Kris Hutson caught four passes for 80 yards, including a 51-yard grab on the opening drive, and Bucky Irving ran for 120 yards on 11 carries.
In his return to Folsom Field, Ducks’ star cornerback Christian Gonzalez, who spent his first two seasons playing at Colorado, grabbed two interceptions and made three tackles.
How it happened
The Ducks put on a dazzling offensive display early in the day.
They scored touchdowns on their first three drives, with all three scores coming in unconventional fashion.
Freshman offensive tackle Josh Conerly Jr. caught a touchdown on the first drive of the day and joined Brady Aiello (2019) as just the second Oregon offensive lineman since 1996 to catch a touchdown.
On Oregon’s second drive, Nix caught an 18-yard touchdown from running back Bucky Irving to make it 14-0. Irving became the first running back in program history to throw multiple pass completions in the same season.
On its third drive, Oregon made it 21-0 when star linebacker Noah Sewell entered the game on offense and rumbled home for a 1-yard touchdown run.
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Colorado refused to go away quietly, though, and got some points back right away when Jordyn Tyson caught an 81-yard touchdown on the Buffs’ ensuing drive.
But Oregon put its foot on the gas from that point. Moliki Matavao caught a touchdown pass from Nix before the half to send the Ducks into the locker room with a 28-7 lead.
After the break, Nix and Noah Whittington each scored rushing touchdowns in the third quarter. Both scores were set up by interceptions and long returns from Gonzalez.
At the midway point of the fourth quarter, Dan Lanning and his staff pulled their starters on both sides of the ball. Redshirt freshman quarterback Ty Thompson led the offense for the final two drives of the day but wasn’t able to produce points on either series.
On Colorado’s final drive of the day, reserve cornerback Darren Barkins recovered a fumble to put an exclamation point on the victory.
Oregon will now set its sights on next Saturday’s rivalry showdown with Washington in Eugene. The kickoff time for the game has not yet been announced.
