Nix covered the most productive season ever by a UO quarterback and Johnson broke a weeks-old school record for gatherings in aiding the No. 8 Ducks beat Freedom on Monday in the Celebration Bowl, 45-6. Oregon completed the 2023 season at 12-2, the 6th 12-win season in school history — all beginning around 2010.
“This game was about incomplete business,” said second-year UO mentor Dan Lanning, who is 22-5 with two bowl succeeds at Oregon. “We said we're composing the last section to our book, and we had the pen. Furthermore, I thought our folks composed a remarkable part.”
The Oregon Ducks take on the Freedom Flares in the 2024 Vrbo Holiday Bowl at State Ranch Arena in Glendale, Arizona on January 1, 2024 (Eric Evans Photography)
Nix broke numerous records set by Marcus Mariota in the last's Heisman Prize time of 2014. He likewise set a UO bowl record with five score passes and finished 18 of his last 19 endeavors to complete the season with a fruition pace of 77.45 percent — beating the past NCAA record of 77.36 set by Macintosh Jones of Alabama in 2020.
Freedom, the beforehand unbeaten heroes of Meeting USA, scored the game's primary focuses by heading to a score on the initial belonging. In the wake of kicking a field objective in the primary quarter, the Ducks saw Nix toss four score passes in the second quarter to tear the game open.
Nix completed the game 28-of-35 for 363 yards and five scores. He completed the season with 4,508 yards and 45 passing scores, breaking Mariota's records of 4,454 and 42, individually.
The Oregon Ducks take on the Freedom Blazes in the 2024 Vrbo Party Bowl at State Homestead Arena in Glendale, Arizona on January 1, 2024 (Eric Evans Photography)
“Each time I went out there, it dialed back to an ever increasing extent,” said Nix, who delighted in two productive years at Oregon subsequent to playing three seasons at Reddish.
“Toward its finish, I just had a truly agreeable feel and I think this year with what we were doing disagreeably, schematically, we just were extremely productive. Furthermore, a piece of that is a direct result of what we did unpalatably, and afterward the players we have on our side of the ball. It's been an extraordinary vocation.”
Nix's fifth score came in the second from last quarter, and the 24-yard scoring pass to Johnson was the play that gave Nix the UO single-season passing yardage record. Johnson got 11 passes for 172 yards on the day, giving him 86 gatherings on the year — five a bigger number of than the 81 that Troy Franklin had through the Pac-12 Title Game, which had broken the past UO record of 77.
The Oregon Ducks take on the Freedom Blazes in the 2024 Vrbo Holiday Bowl at State Homestead Arena in Glendale, Arizona on January 1, 2024 (Eric Evans Photography)
Bucky Irving scored Oregon's last score of the day, in the final quarter. Irving, who has reported that he will enter the 2024 NFL Draft, covered his vocation with 14 scrambles for 117 yards and a score.
Protectively, the Ducks returned from permitting 130 yards in the initial quarter to permit only 164 yards the remainder of the way. Freedom entered the game driving the nation in surging yards per game at 302.9, and scrambled for a season-low 168 on Monday.
“Pondering that first drive, (it was tied in with) going to the sideline and keeping our balance,” said UO linebacker Jeffrey Bassa, who drove the Ducks with eight handles. “And afterward we planned to execute at a significant level from that point on.”
The Oregon Ducks take on the Freedom Flares in the 2024 Vrbo Holiday Bowl at State Ranch Arena in Glendale, Arizona on January 1, 2024 (Eric Evans Photography)
Oregon's 584 yards of offense were third-most in UO bowl history, behind 639 against Florida State and 621 against Wisconsin in the 2015 and 2012 Rose Bowls, separately.
Nix's five score passes were to five distinct collectors. Scoring tosses to Gary Bryant Jr., Terrance Ferguson and Kenyon Sadiq gave Nix the UO record for score passes in a solitary season, and gave Oregon a 24-6 lead late in the subsequent quarter.
Freedom then, at that point, mounted one of its better drives of the day, yet UO senior guarded back Steve Stephens IV concocted a capture to recapture ownership for Oregon with 1:12 left in the main half. Nix's fourth score pass of the subsequent quarter, to Traeshon Holden, made it 31-6 at the break.
The Oregon Ducks take on the Freedom Blazes in the 2024 Vrbo Party Bowl at State Homestead Arena in Glendale, Arizona on January 1, 2024 (Eric Evans Photography)
Nix then added his score pass to Johnson in the third and coordinated the drive in the final quarter that finished in Irving's hurrying score. After Oregon recaptured ownership with 10:52 left in the game, Nix emerged for the following drive however not long after was subbed out for Austin Novosad, acquiring thunders from the fans in participation and praise on the sideline from his partners.
“I grew up watching the Celebration Bowl, I grew up watching bowl games on New Year's Day, and dreaming and going outside later and playing like I was there,” Nix said. “Despite the fact that perhaps you could say it didn't go how we needed it to this year, I think it finished precisely the way in which we might have controlled it. I figure we did all that we could with the open door that introduced itself.”
