Making his NCAA record 61st – and final – career start, Oregon quarterback Bo Nix was masterful at the 53rd Annual Vrbo Fiesta Bowl. With Nix's experience and record-setting season on full display, No. 8 Oregon posted the largest margin of victory in Fiesta Bowl history with a 45-6 win over No. 23 Liberty at State Farm Stadium.
New Year's Day in the Fiesta Bowl has been known to deliver the unexpected. Look no further than stunning wins by Utah (2005), Boise State (2007) and UCF (2014). But on the first day of 2024, Oregon ensured it denied Liberty from etching its name on that list with a dominating performance.
"We said this season, and really this game, was about unfinished business," said Oregon Head Coach Dan Lanning. "We said we're writing the last chapter to our book, and we had the pen. I thought our guys wrote a phenomenal chapter. Started off a little hairy, but they finished it off the way Oregon is supposed to play. I'm really proud of these guys."
Look across the box score and Oregon took away two of Liberty's key statistical advantages. Liberty entered Bowl Season with a nation-leading 21 interceptions. Oregon did not turn the ball over at all. The Flames also led the country with 302.9 rushing yards per game, and the Ducks limited to them to a season-low 168 yards on the ground.
Oregon's third Fiesta Bowl victory in program history was in large part due to the play of Nix.
Voted Offensive Player of the Game, Nix sliced and diced Liberty's defense to the tune of 363 passing yards and a Fiesta Bowl single-game record tying five passing touchdowns. He completed 28-of-35 passes to officially set a new NCAA record for single-season completion percentage (77.45%), surpassing Alabama's Mac Jones, who held the previous record of 77.36% in 2020.
The 2023 Heisman Trophy finalist and Campbell Trophy winner capped the most prolific season by an Oregon quarterback with school season records of 4,508 yards and 45 touchdowns.
"I grew up watching the Fiesta Bowl, I grew up watching bowl games on New Year's Day, and dreaming and going outside and playing like I was in that position," Nix said. "I don't think you're promised many opportunities to play the game of football and with the year that we had, it would have been a shame if I didn't go out there and finish with the guys who made it all possible."
Despite the final score, Liberty (13-1), the Conference USA Champion, delivered the first blow. On the game's opening possession, the Flames quickly marched down the field in six plays and emphatically punctuated the 75-yard drive with a 17-yard scoring pass from Kaidon Salter to Bentley Hanshaw. Liberty missed the ensuing extra point but claimed a 6-3 lead after 15 minutes.
But Nix threw touchdowns on four straight possessions in a 28-point Oregon second quarter and never looked back. After a 2-yard toss from Nix to Gary Bryant Jr. gave Oregon a 10-6 advantage, Nix followed with short scores to Terrance Ferguson and Kenyon Sadiq.
Liberty trailed 24-6 with the ball in the waning minutes of the first half. Salter completed four passes and Quinton Cooley – the ninth-leading rusher in the country – piled up a pair of 8-yard gains to move the Flames into Ducks territory. Standing on the edge of field goal range, though, Salter's third-down pass was intercepted by Steve Stephens IV, providing the Ducks with one more opportunity before the half.
Oregon took full advantage with the big play coming via a 40-yard catch-and-run from Nix to Tez Johnson, which immediately proceeded Nix's fourth touchdown of the quarter, this time to Traeshon Holden. As Oregon went into the locker room ahead 31-6, Nix racked up 257 yards through the air.
Nix picked up the second half right where he left off, completing the initial drive of the third quarter with his Fiesta Bowl record-tying fifth touchdown pass. Fittingly, Nix's last collegiate touchdown – the 113th of his career – was to Johnson, his adopted brother and former high school teammate.
Johnson, who finished the game with 11 receptions for 172 yards, exited with Oregon's single-season receptions record (86).
"Tez had a Tez day," Nix said. "If you watch him every day, that dude goes out there, he gets open, he catches the ball and he continues to do it over and over and over. I told him going in, 'I'm going to throw you the ball as much as you're open. You just get open and we'll take care of it.' Sure enough, that's what he does."
Oregon wrapped up a stretch of six straight touchdown drives with a 1-yard Bucky Irving plunge across the goal line less than a minute into the fourth quarter.
After Liberty's game-opening scoring drive, Oregon's defense – led by Defensive Player of the Game Jeffrey Bassa – forced five punts, two turnovers and a turnover on downs.
"I think it just came down to the preparation. Knowing that they were the number one rushing offense in the country, I think a lot of the guys looked up to the challenge of stopping that run," said Bassa, who paced the Ducks with eight tackles. "Accepting that challenge, I know a lot of the defensive linemen were fired up."
The 39-point Oregon win eclipsed Nebraska's 38-point victory (62-24) against Florida in 1996 as the largest Fiesta Bowl victory margin.
Oregon (12-2) rolled up 584 yards offense – its third-most in bowl history – to notch its sixth 12-win season in school history. This season's win follows previous Oregon Fiesta Bowl titles in 2002 and 2013.
"I think it speaks to the direction, the base that these guys have created for where we're headed and what we're about to do," Lanning said. "They believed in what we wanted to accomplish. Really, this is all about our players. Our players had a buy-in. They knew what the goal was and what to accomplish."
