Bo Nix likened Saturday’s win over Washington State to an experience he had his junior year of high school. Third round of the state playoffs, a back-and-forth kind of game, a high-scoring affair. Nix remembered his defense being unable to stop the other guys and they fell down by two scores.

Sounds familiar.

“We beat them in overtime,” the Oregon quarterback told reporters this week. “I feel like that was very similar to the game that we played. The only difference was that I didn’t throw a pick six, so I didn’t have that in the back of my mind nagging at me. I felt in the second half it was our approach as an offense. We knew that they wouldn’t be able to stop us if we just executed. We went out in the second half and executed at a much higher level.”

Nix was fabulous in leading the Ducks’ back on Washington State to a 44-41 win. In the second half, he completed 18 of his 25 passes for 267 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winner to Troy Franklin on a 50-yard bomb to go up 37-34 with 1:21 to play.

It felt like an inflection point in Nix’s career. The praise came rolling in from all over after the scoreline went final. Auburn Bo Nix was left in the SEC. Nix is a man reborn at Oregon, playing with confidence and within an offense that lets him shine. When he left Auburn, it seemed like both sides were happy to have a fresh start.

Nix is on track to set career highs for completion percentage, yards per pass attempt, quarterback rating, passing yards, and passing touchdowns. Put another way: he’s having the best year of his career across the board.

“I feel like this is just a good opportunity to turn the page,” he said. “It’s not starting over because I’ve done a lot of good things in the past. But, it’s the chance to play football and continue to fix some things and become as good as I can be, and continue to move on and grow as a player and as a leader, as a teammate, and as a guy that’s being coached really hard by his coaches.

“I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily redefining me, just because I was comfortable with who I was before that. A lot of the things people don’t really understand and a lot of things go into it. Moving forward I think it’s all about winning games and doing all the things I’m doing to be the best teammate I can be.”

Coach Dan Lanning was asked earlier this week who on the staff should get a bit of credit for the resurgent play of the Ducks’ quarterback and seemed almost annoyed on behalf of Nix.

“Kenny (Dillingham) and I didn’t play a single snap on Saturday,” Lanning said in response. “Bo deserves credit for the way he performed. Our players deserve credit for the way that they perform in games. He performed well. Does he have to take coaching? Does he have to grow and improve? Absolutely. But he’s done that. He did what he needed to do in the game on Saturday. I promise you there’s plays he wants back, too.

“I didn’t play a single snap and neither did Coach Dillingham. Does that mean he was well-prepared? Absolutely. He was, but he put in the work to be well-prepared.”

And he’s absolutely enjoying the fruits of that labor.