Dan Lanning explains what separates Bo Nix from other college quarterbacks
Dan Lanning has said on multiple occasions this season he believes Bo Nix is the best quarterback in the country.
And that goes beyond your standard coachspeak — “I’ll take my guy over anyone,” things like that. Lanning has often praised Nix’s ability to be an offensive coordinator on the field and get the Ducks into advantageous looks they might not have otherwise been in.
“I’ll say this, I’ve never been around a quarterback like Bo that understands what we’re trying to accomplish so well,” Lanning said at his Monday night news conference. “There’s times that we’re there on the sidelines as a coaching staff saying, ‘Wait, what is he checking to? Oh, alright, good. That worked.’ He gets it right a lot more often than not.”
Nix threw for 248 yards with three total touchdowns in the 35-6 win over Utah. On the season, Nix has 2,337 passing yards, 24 total touchdowns, and only one turnover. Lanning called him the best quarterback in the country again after the Utah game, adding “I don’t think there’s any doubt about it.”
On Saturday, Nix was asked in the postgame to break down the second score — an 18-yard touchdown pass to Jordan James on an angle route.
The call was a check from Nix at the line of scrimmage after assessing what was in front of him. When some pre-snap movement caused Utah to check into a field pressure, Nix said Oregon checked back to an angle. He said the play had a number of different options based on the look that was presented to the Ducks — something that is standard for Oregon given how much football its quarterback has seen — and they were prepared for everything they saw.
That’s unique at the college level. Most quarterbacks don’t have the autonomy to operate the way Nix does. But Lanning and offensive coordinator Will Stein trust Nix to make decisions based upon what he sees.
Asked about the specific play on Monday, Lanning said that kind of thing happens every week.
“That was a look that we’d worked a lot because it’s a tough pressure to deal with. And we felt like we had a really good answer if we saw it,” Lanning said. “I thought our coaching staff and the players on the field had a really clear indication of exactly what we wanted to accomplish if we saw that look. Bo did a great job getting us into that play and our players did a really good job of executing.
“That happens every single week. Not every time is it a touchdown. But that happens every single week where he gets us into a play, or our offensive staff identifies something that can get us into a play we think can be successful, and that’s just one example of it.
Nix holds the all-time NCAA record for career starts by a quarterback. He has a chance this season to also set a record for completion percentage in a year. So long as he’s handling snaps for the Ducks, this offense will continue to hum.