Neither Bo Nix nor the Oregon Ducks had the 2022 debut they hoped to have.

The first-year Oregon quarterback struggled mightily against the Georgia Bulldogs last Saturday. Though most quarterbacks do so against Georgia, Nix didn’t help himself in a 49-3 loss. He was picked off twice in the first half as Oregon fell out of the game before heading to the locker room for the break. 

After sitting down and watching tape, coach Dan Lanning addressed the injury piece of it head on Monday when he was asked where he wants to see Nix improve going forward.

“Not turning the ball over,” Lanning told reporters. “Obviously that’s a big piece. That’s where it starts. Operate within the framework of the offense. You don’t have to create any plays that aren’t there for you to make, you just have to take the ones that are sitting in front of you. I think when he did that, we were effective at times on offense. When you operate outside the system, you’re gonna struggle. I think that’d be for anybody.”

Nix finished 21-for-37 passing for 173 yards and two interceptions in the game. Even in the second half, as the Bulldogs poured it on, the former Auburn quarterback was unable to get anything going. Oregon was 2-for-8 on third downs in the second half as Nix passed for just 31 yards while completing five of his 13 pass attempts.

In four career games against the Bulldogs, Nix is now 0-4 with a 56.4% completion rate, four interceptions to only one touchdown pass, and an average of 4.9 yards per pass.

In all other games, he’s completed 60% of his passes for 38 touchdowns and 14 interceptions while averaging 7.1 yards per pass attempt.

Oregon never went to backup Ty Thompson in the Georgia game, despite the blowout nature and the fact Thompson supposedly pushed for the starting spot in fall camp. After the game, Lanning said it was about wanting to help Nix build some rhythm within the offense to better serve the team moving forward.

Oregon produced over 300 yards of offense, but it had a drive that reached scoring position end with an interception, and another end in a field goal after a false start set the team back into a third-and-16. The final possession of the game, Nix drove the team 87 yards in 19 plays — a drive that spanned more than eight minutes of game clock — but failed to pay off the drive with points, turning it over on downs from the 2-yard-line.

“We have other quarterbacks on our team that obviously can compete as well, but Bo is our quarterback,” Lanning said after the game. “Bo did a good job today of handling some adverse situations, but he is also going to figure out how can he improve, just like we can as a staff.”

The Ducks play Eastern Washington on Saturday, with kickoff scheduled for 5:30 pm PT. You can see Lanning’s Monday press conference in its entirety below: