Despite committing 13 penalties and allowing USC to score the last 13 points of the game, the No. 6 Oregon football team came away with a 36-27 victory over the Trojans before the fifth-largest crowd in Autzen Stadium history, 59,957.
Nix’s first two passes of the game went for 77 and 84 yards, as Troy Franklin and Tez Johnson combined for 273 receiving yards on the night. Bucky Irving ran for 118 yards and a score, and the UO defense sacked reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams three times while also recovering a fumble.
“It’s fun to sit there and watch two elite quarterbacks battling it out,” UO coach Dan Lanning said. “Obviously we’ve got a really special one on our sideline. I think that’s a Heisman-worthy performance from Bo.”
All of that helped the Ducks (9-1, 6-1 Pac-12) keep pace with Washington in the race to reach the Pac-12 Championship Game, and keep pace with the other top contenders for a College Football Playoff berth.
“I think it’s pretty clear we have a really good team,” Lanning said. “But we can be even better. So I’m excited to see where we’re headed next.”
Nix finished the night 23-of-31 for 412 yards and four touchdowns, burnishing his own credentials for the Heisman Trophy. Franklin became the 12th player in UO history to surpass 1,000 receiving yards in a season, doing so on his 84-yard touchdown reception that put the Ducks up 13-7 in the first quarter.
Tez Johnson had his second prolific performance in a row, catching seven passes for 126 yards and two scores — a 77-yard touchdown on Oregon’s second play of the game, and a 21-yard touchdown that put Oregon up 29-14 in the third quarter.
In a battle of the two highest-scoring offenses in the country, the Ducks never trailed Saturday.
“It’s hard when you play a team like USC where you know they can score quick, so I don’t know if you ever feel comfortable,” Lanning said. “But there is a difference in the game when you’re having some success on offense. … I think we’ve got to work on having that killer instinct to finish down the stretch.”
Evan Williams had nine tackles to lead the UO defense, including one of Oregon’s three sacks. He also recovered a fumble in the third quarter, which set up the Ducks’ final touchdown of the night.
Irving scored on the opening play of the fourth quarter to give the Ducks a 36-14 lead. A USC touchdown, a missed field goal for Oregon and another USC touchdown made it 36-27 with 3:44 to play, but the Ducks recovered an onside kick and ran out the clock.
“We knew that they were dangerous and they had the ability to come back,” Lanning said. “So I don’t know that anybody ever felt relaxed; disappointed a little bit with our finish because I think we’re a much better team than what we showed down the stretch. But we got some good experience for some guys, as we got dinged up a little bit.”
Oregon’s defensive secondary got progressively thinner over the course of the night. Starting cornerbacks Khyree Jackson and Jahlil Florence each missed most of the second half, and backups Trikweze Bridges and Dontae Manning each missed time late in the game as well.
By the time the Trojans were scoring their last touchdown, Oregon was using nickelback Nikko Reed and true freshman Rodrick Pleasant at the corner positions.
The Ducks piled up 552 yards of offense, averaging 8.8 yards per play and 12.9 yards per passing attempt. The UO defense held USC to 73 rushing yards and held Williams to 19-of-34 passing for 291 yards, but Oregon’s 13 penalties for 120 yards contributed to the final margin.
Penalties have been an issue for much of this UO football season, and they’ll remain a point of emphasis entering next week’s trip to play at Arizona State. Kickoff time will be set for that game Sunday.
“We’ve got to address it for us to be the team that we want to be,” Lanning said. “We have to become more disciplined. I’m not sure that I agree with every single one of them. But that being said, it’s something that we can certainly fix.”
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