After Further Review: Bo Nix, Oregon football shine in win over ASU

Establishing a 42-0 halftime lead, Oregon cruised past out-manned Arizona State 49-13 to set themselves up for the rivalry showdown with Oregon State Friday in Eugene.

As Oregon is slinking off to dubious status in the Big Ten next year, this will be the apparent denouement for the annual clash the state has savored since it was started in 1894, and played 126 times since.

The Ducks want a rematch with Washington for the Pac-12 title. That can only happen if Oregon defeats Oregon State and/or Arizona loses to Arizona State.

Bo Nix puts up masterful performance

Bo Nix, Oregon’s Heisman hopeful, never passed the ball better: completing 24-of-29 attempts (83%) for six touchdowns and a total of 404 yards, on a variety of throws, all of them in the first half. As the most experienced quarterback in college football, Nix was a maestro, conducting the Duck offense in the manner of a classic conductor who doesn’t have to look at his notes. Oregon had six offensive drives in the first half and scored touchdowns easily, on all six.

The Ducks were impressive in all phases of the game: slashing the usually unacceptable number of penalties to four on the offense and one on the defense — too many still, but a move in the right direction. Lanning had to be pleased with the first quarter’s offensive production: twelve first downs, 222 yards, 21 points while the defense was stifling the Sun Devils, allowing only three first downs and 48 yards to an offense struggling without a competent quarterback.

Arizona State’s head coach, Kenny Dillingham, is only 33 years old, (rapidly growing older) and has cobbled together a team with much more heart than talent. Before the game he observed that “we have to do things because of them, not us — we have to become creative and put our players in a position to be successful.”

Unfortunately, the players who will make ASU successful are still in high school or playing for other teams at the moment. Dillingham is a recruiting dervish and based on his background and enthusiasm, there is hope for the Sun Devils, just not a lot right now. He was creative at times last year as Lanning’s offensive coordinator in Eugene and he had a good influence on Nix’s development, which all Duck fans can appreciate.

Dillingham employed three different players at quarterback against the tough Duck defense: a real one, Trenton Bourguet, who completed 20 passes, but only for seven yards a pop; a burly running back who threw six passes like they were grenades, and the best one, a 6-4, 270-pound tight end who completed three-of-four and rumbled and bumbled for 34 yards on running plays that left Duck tacklers grimacing from contact.

Arizona State almost beat the Huskies in Seattle several weeks ago and held UW’s Heisman hopeful quarterback Michael Penix Jr. to his worst day, smothering him on pass attempts and holding him without a touchdown pass. The Sun Devils came at him with all-out blitzes and hoped the same might knock Nix off stride in Tempe. “Not so fast,” Nix must have thought when he saw the blitzers lined up twice in the first quarter. Nix stepped up and changed the play, and the Devils promptly changed their defense and backed off — such is the huge advantage Lanning has with his Heisman contender. And, by the way, Dillingham gets a little credit for helping teach Nix how to check out of bad plays on the line of scrimmage during the game.

Ty Thompson shows improvement

The Sun Devils got one sack, which was more a loss of rushing yardage by Nix as he was forced out of the pocket after the enemy secondary actually covered all available receivers. Coach Lanning had Nix play one series in the third quarter and then turned the controls over to backup quarterback Ty Thompson, which was a cool thing, because he’s from the Phoenix area and has spent much of the past two seasons on the bench.

Thompson was highly regarded coming out of a small high school. He has not shown much promise in the limited number of opportunities he’s had to get on the playing field in front of a crowd at Oregon. However, Thompson has demonstrated progress lately, looking sharp against California and again with his chance against the Sun Devils. He completed four-of-six for 59 yards and his first touchdown, a crisp, perfectly thrown 19-yarder to Casey Kelly. One can surmise having Dillingham coach you last year, and then, this season, with offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Will Stein, you are going to increase your skill set.

Hanging out with Nix for two years has got to be a big help too. As the son of a coach, Nix has likely passed on a lot of good advice and counsel to Thompson. All of this is beginning to show as Thompson has matured and demonstrates confidence coming on the field when before he was timid and mechanical.

Stein called a brilliant game focused mostly on the passing. The Ducks air corps had 14 “BIG Plays,”(gaining 15 or more yards), for a total of 372 yards, and six rushing “BIG Plays" (gaining 10 or more yards), while offense-less ASU had four passing and five rushing that led to only a lone touchdown on a beautiful day in the desert. Oregon had four ball carriers average over five yards-per-rush — the usual suspects: Bucky Irving (63 yards) and James Jordan (48 yards), and two freshmen: Dante Dowdell and Jayden Limar, both of whom looked at ease mixing it up with the big boys.

There’s nothing better than giving an antagonist “the business.” Lanning was not forced to punt in the game, although it was good that he brought his punter so that he could line up in punt formation on fourth down in the second quarter and then quickly shift the group into an offensive formation with the punter as the quarterback, attempting a fake that Dillingham stopped with a hastily-called time out. After the time out, with Lanning one up on giving Dillingham “the business,” Nix came back on the field with the offense and completed a fourth-and-three pass to Troy Franklin for a first down.

Ducks must make improvements before Beavers showdown

Before getting too satisfied with the outcome of this Sun Devil debacle, Oregon coaches and players need some serious improvement before taking on Oregon State. Against ASU, there was a falloff in tackling: too many over-extended swan song tackle attempts that went for naught; and no observable pass rush, especially with no hands up in the throwing lanes or in the face of the quarterback. Worst of all, Oregon’s talented edge defenders folded like cheap suits at times, failing to establish or sustain the edge of the defense, allowing ASU running backs open spaces outside the formation.

Oregon’s defense is going to be tested by the Beavers, who have the added psychological boost of getting a final opportunity of smacking the smug Ducks as they abandon them and the conference.

Watch closely the war in the trenches. “Low man wins” in the struggle for leverage on both offense and defense. Oregon’s offensive and defensive lines have had their way pretty much the entire season, including their loss to the Huskies; Oregon State’s front warriors are their equal physically. For the last act of the Pac-12, it will be a hell of a battle, and many green and yellow faithful still shudder when they recall last year’s Civil War embarrassment — losing a 31-10 lead in the second half with a ton of missed tackles and poor coaching decisions. This is coach Lanning’s last chance to put all that to rest.

After playing at Oregon, Ken Woody coached college football for 18 years as an assistant at Oregon, Washington, Utah State and Washington State and as a head coach at Whitman College and Washington University-St. Louis. He has been a commentator on Oregon football on Fox, Prime Sports Northwest and KCPQ. He conducts a free, weekly coaching clinic at the 6th Street Grill every Wednesday at 6 p.m. during the season. Plays from Oregon games are analyzed, there are scouting reports for opponents, and highlights from referees; all to learn about football and understand why the Ducks win or lose.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Oregon football's Bo Nix shines in Ducks win over ASU Sun Devils