Heisman Trophy candidate Bo Nix completed 33 of 40 passes for 367 yards with a pair of touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown, and the No. 6 Oregon Ducks had much to celebrate on their home field in Eugene, Ore., after their 31-7 win over No. 16 Oregon State on Friday.
The game could mark the Ducks’ final rivalry game against the Beavers for some time, gives them a spot in the last Pac-12 Championship game, and furthers their bid for a place in the College Football Playoff.
Oregon (11-1) won its sixth straight game and finished 8-1 in the Pac-12.
Oregon State (8-4, 5-4) managed just 273 yards of total offense, including 53 on the ground after what had been a successful rushing attack all season.
Oregon’s offense has often been a quick-strike unit this season, but on Friday, the Ducks chewed time off the clock with two lengthy touchdown drives in the first half.
Nix set the Ducks’ single-season completions record with his 305th of the season, a third-quarter pass to Troy Franklin for 17 yards.
The Oregon defense was determined to not allow the Beavers to trample on them the way Oregon State did with its running game in last season’s matchup in Corvallis, which the Beavers won 38-34. The Ducks held the Pac-12’s second-leading rusher, Damien Martinez, to 38 yards.
Oregon scored 10 points off two fourth-down stops in the game, the first being a Nix 16-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, making the score 14-0, and the second a 25-yard field goal for Camden Lewis in the third quarter.
Oregon State got as close as 14-7 with DJ Uiagalelei’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Silas Bolden in the second quarter, but Oregon answered with a fast touchdown. Nix needed just 40 seconds to get the Ducks down the field and throw a 41-yard touchdown pass to Franklin eight seconds before halftime.
Oregon sealed the win and a rematch with Washington in the Pac-12 Championship game with a 1-yard touchdown run by Jordan James early in the fourth quarter, followed shortly thereafter by Dontae Manning’s interception of Uiagalelei in the end zone.
The future of one of the fourth-oldest college football rivalries in the U.S., with 127 meetings between the two teams, is in doubt. Oregon moves to the Big Ten next season while Oregon State is headed toward playing as an independent if it doesn’t join another conference.
–Field Level Media
