Oregon orchestrates thrilling fourth-quarter comeback to top North Carolina in Holiday Bowl
Chase Cota’s final catch as an Oregon Duck will go down as the biggest of his career.
Cota, Oregon’s senior wideout, caught a 6-yard game-tying touchdown pass from Bo Nix with 19 seconds left in regulation to keep Oregon’s Holiday Bowl hopes alive Wednesday evening. Moments later, Camden Lewis drilled an extra point to secure the win.
The No. 15 Ducks topped North Carolina, 27-26, at Petco Park in San Diego to win the Holiday Bowl and close out Dan Lanning’s first season at the helm of the program on an incredible high note.
Oregon ends the 2022 campaign 10-3 and becomes the 13th team in program history to finish with double-digit wins.
Nix finished the evening 23-for-30 passing with 205 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception.
Bucky Irving ran for 149 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries. Terrance Ferguson caught five passes for 84 yards. His 28-yard run-and-catch on Oregon’s final offensive drive set the stage for Cota’s game-tying score.
How it happened
The Ducks wasted no time getting on the board during their opening drive. They needed just six plays to go 54 yards and score on a 2-yard touchdown from Irving.
North Carolina answered back with a touchdown of its own, though, and capped off a 44-yard drive with a six-yard score by Andre Greene Jr. with 6:19 to go.
Both teams missed field goals on their next drive, and it seemed as though both defenses had begun to find their footing.
But on Oregon’s third drive, Irving delivered one of the highlights of the Ducks’ season and broke off a 66-yard touchdown run to make it 14-7 with 9:13 left in the half.
Not to be outdone, Maye responded by marching the Tar Heels 75 yards on 10 plays and capped off the drive with a 14-yard laser to Bryson Nesbit to tie the game at 14-14.
All season long, the Ducks’ offense has performed incredibly well during the “middle eight” portion of the game. They had a chance to do so again late in the first half when they marched to the North Carolina 21-yard line with 35 seconds to go.
But disaster struck for Oregon when Nix’s pass to Terrance Ferguson was bobbled and deflected off of two Tar Heel defenders before being intercepted and returned to the Oregon 49 by Power Echols.
On the very next play, Maye connected with Kobe Paysour for a 49-yard touchdown to give the Tar Heels a 21-14 lead at halftime.
When the third quarter began, both offenses came out of the gates sluggish and struggled to get much going.
The Ducks went three-and-out on their opening drive of the half and turned the ball over on downs at the North Carolina 27 on their second drive.
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The Tar Heels went three and out on their first drive of the half, too. On their second drive, they faced 3rd-and-5 at midfield before Brandon Dorlus and Mase Funa combined for a sack to force a UNC punt.
But UNC punter Ben Kiernan delivered a picture-perfect punt that pinned the Ducks at their own one-yard line.
The Tar Heels’ defense came up big and forced another three-and-out that was capitalized by a huge tackle from Cedric Gray that stopped Noah Whittington on third down.
However, the Ducks were bailed out by an illegal substitution penalty that gave them a fresh set of downs at their own 14.
They couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity, though, and were forced to punt after stalling out at midfield.
With 9:13 to go, North Carolina tacked on a 19-yard field goal to take a 24-14 lead.
Oregon refused to go away quietly, though, and cut the lead to three when Nix linked up with Franklin for a 6-yard touchdown with 6:58 to go.
UNC responded with a field goal to push its lead to 27-21 and left the Ducks with just 2:29 to piece together a game-tying drive.
Nix quickly pushed the Ducks into North Carolina territory and then red zone when Troy Franklin drew a pass-interference call to put Oregon and the Tar Heels’ 14-yard line.
Three plays later, on 4th-and-2, Nix found Cota over the middle for the game-tying touchdown.
Camden Lewis’s ensuing extra point gave the Ducks the lead for good.
Maye’s final hail mary attempt reached the end zone, but fell harmlessly to the turf and sent the Oregon sideline into a raucous celebration.
