Bucky Irving’s introduction to Oregon center Jackson Powers-Johnson was a memorable one. Ice cream cone in hand, ice cream on his face, Irving introduced himself to his new teammate by saying, simply, “Hey, I’m Buck.”

Powers-Johnson was sold immediately.

“I love blocking for him,” Powers-Johnson said after Saturday’s 38-24 win over Washington State.

He got to do a ton of it against the Cougars. Irving ran for 129 yards on 15 carries, caught another 51 yards on three receptions, and found the endzone three times.

“He’s hard to tackle, and then he has great hands. And he’s just a really smart football player,” said quarterback Bo Nix. “I think it just goes to him being hard to tackle in space. It’s just really tough for defenses.”

Against the Cougs, Irving accounted for a 40-yard run, a 42-yard touchdown reception, and a 43-yard touchdown run. Since joining the Ducks prior to the 2022 season, Irving has been one of the most entertaining players in all of college football.

He is a nightmare to tackle. He breaks ankles at will. And coach Dan Lanning said no one wants it more.

“I’d say his heart’s pounding out of his chest,” Lanning said. “This dude’s so passionate. He cares so much for his teammates. He never goes down on first contact. Really selfless player, and I think that really shows up when you watch this guy on the field.”

Powers-Johnson said this wasn’t a new kind of performance from Irving. Rather, this is the Irving they see every day. “He did him,” Powers-Johnson said.

“I don’t think that anybody wants this team to be more successful than Bucky Irving,” Lanning added. “He cares about his team, he cares about his teammates. He loves hard. I won’t go into detail about his backstory, but the adversity this guy has faced, for him to be the remarkable young man that he is is really impressive. I have three sons. I hope my sons can grow up and be like Bucky Irving.”

The performance from Irving marked his third 100-yard day on the season and his second in as many weeks. In the loss to Washington last weekend, Irving had 127 rushing yards and a score on 22 carries.

On the season, he’s averaging 7.5 yards per rushing attempt.

And with the ground game working against the Cougs, the pass game fed off the energy. Nix threw for 293 yards on just 25 attempts.

“He challenges me to be the best,” Nix said. “When we’re on the field together, we’re capable of so much.”