5 Things To Watch: Holiday Bowl - GoDucks.com
The No. 15 Ducks face North Carolina in that same bowl game on Wednesday at 5 p.m. Oregon is making its fourth Holiday Bowl appearance, having won here in 2000 over Texas, lost to Oklahoma in 2005 and defeated Oklahoma State in 2008.
The victory in 2000 came over a Longhorns team coached by Mack Brown, who will be on the sideline as the Tar Heels' head coach Wednesday. The Ducks bring a 9-3 record into the Holiday Bowl, after a regular season that saw them drop their opener in Georgia, win eight straight to enter the College Football Playoff race, then drop two of three following an injury to quarterback Bo Nix.
North Carolina brings a 9-4 record into the Holiday Bowl. This is the first ever meeting between the Ducks and Tar Heels.
Wednesday's game is slated for a 5 p.m. kickoff on FOX, with Gus Johnson on play by play, Joel Klatt as analyst and Jenny Taft providing reports from the sidelines.
Some storylines to watch Wednesday evening …
1. Coaching changes and player departures to the NFL draft or the transfer portal has impacted both teams leading up to this game. Oregon's offensive coordinator in the regular season, Kenny Dillingham, is now the head coach at Arizona State, and the Ducks will be without at least three starters on defense who won't play Wednesday after declaring for the NFL draft.
But in a press conference Tuesday, both head coaches opted to focus on the personnel that remains on both sidelines for the Holiday Bowl. For Dan Lanning, that includes some notable seniors including several offensive linemen who used a sixth year of eligibility due to the pandemic to play for the Ducks in Lanning's first year as head coach this fall.
"My experience sitting here would have been so different without those guys," Lanning said. "They didn't stick around because of me, they stuck around because they love Oregon, and they love football and they love their teammates. But this season wouldn't have been the same without those guys on our team — it wouldn't have been remotely close."
2. Oregon's postseason might have looked much different if not for the injury to Nix late in the Washington game. With Nix hobbled, the Ducks were unable to close out what would have been their ninth straight win, and he remained limited in the loss to Oregon State as well.
Nix is another player who is opting to take an extra year in college due to the pandemic. He'll remain with the Ducks in 2023, he has announced, and he'll look to use the Holiday Bowl as a springboard into the offseason.
"I certainly think he feels a lot better than he did at the end of the season," Lanning said. "I expect to see him play some of his best football."
3. Nix isn't the only Duck who can make a statement Wednesday about the program's prospects for next season. Given some of the players who have departed, it stands to reason that some young new faces may get prime opportunities in the Holiday Bowl to show what they've got.
Particularly on defense, there are positions where draft decisions and portal departures have created openings.
"Some young guys are gonna get opportunities that all year have been sitting there waiting for their chance, and you hope that they've done everything they can to prepare themselves for that moment," Lanning said. "But we're gonna have a lot of young guys out there on the field for us, just like North Carolina will, and we'll see what they do with their moment."
4. Brown made no bones Tuesday about the fact that Oregon's running game is stronger than North Carolina; the Ducks are 14th in the country in rushing at 216.33 yards per game, while the Tar Heels are 63rd at 156.38.
But as Brown also said Tuesday, in today's world of college football, if you have a quarterback, you have a chance. And both teams are outstanding at that position, between Nix and his UNC counterpart Drake Maye.
"There's no secret that the offense runs through Drake, and he's one of the best quarterbacks in college football," Lanning said. "I don't know that he gets enough credit with his ability to run with the ball, and he does a great job."
5. Brown on Tuesday also made a passionate case for the continuation of other bowls even after the playoff expands to 12 teams in the coming years. Among his reasoning was the reward it provides for players, staff and their families after the grind of a long season.
For both teams this week, the reward has been several days in San Diego. And on Wednesday, they'll play the first ever football game in Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres.
"They got a great team; this will be a lot of fun for our guys and I know our players are anxious to get out there and hit somebody else besides themselves," Lanning said. "That's something that you do in bowl practice — you get to go against yourself a lot — and it's probably time for us to play someone else. Thrilled to get to go compete in this game, an opportunity to go and finish this season with 10 wins, really for both teams. It's going to be a good competition, good atmosphere. I'm excited."
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