Ducks Digest

Oregon Ducks Draw North Carolina Tarheels in Holiday Bowl

The Ducks will travel to Southern California to take on Drake Maye and the Tarheels.

Josh Parker

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On Sunday it was announced that the Oregon Ducks (9-3, 7-2 Pac-12) will play the North Carolina Tarheels (9-4, 6-2 ACC) in the Holiday Bowl.

The Holiday Bowl has been around since 1978 and takes place in San Diego, California at Petco Park. This will be the first time the  Holiday Bowl has been played since 2019 due to impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The last game to be played was between the No. 19 Iowa Hawkeyes and the No. 22 USC Trojans, which the Hawkeyes dominated in a 49-24 win.

This will be the Duck's fourth appearance in the Holiday Bowl and the first since a 2008 win over the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Other Oregon appearances include 2000 against the No. 12 Texas Longhorns, and 2005 against the Oklahoma Sooners. Oregon holds a 2-1 record in this bowl game, only losing to the Sooners in a tight matchup 17-14.

In a season that looked promising for the Ducks, they find themselves in a lower-tier bowl game rather than a New Year's Six game. Because of this, we could see names roll out to opt of this game as upperclassmen prepare themselves for the NFL Draft. Cornerback Christian Gonzalez became the first to announce his intention to do so on Sunday afternoon.

However, there could be less than expected that end up choosing to do so after starting quarterback Bo Nix posted a message on social media hinting that he would be playing in the game over the weekend. 

The Oregon Football Twitter page also posted the quarterback's quote Sunday evening.

Though this doesn't mean anything officially, Oregon fans would love to see Nix lead the Ducks one more time this season in what could be a good game against a talented North Carolina team that made it to the ACC championship. Freshman quarterback Drake Maye has been giving his all this season and has raised eyebrows with his performance.

Duck fans would also love to see Oregon end the season on a high note after losing two of their last three games and squandering away a chance at the Pac-12 championship. Oregon has a 6-4 record in bowl games the last ten years, with the last win coming from their 2020 Rose Bowl game against Wisconsin.

Just like the Ducks, the Tarheels have had a very up-and-down season, losing their last three games including the ACC championship against the Clemson Tigers.

North Carolina has the ninth-ranked passing offense, just six spots ahead of the Ducks. They're also ranked in the bottom ten in passing defense at 121 out of 131, allowing 276.4 yards a game and the Ducks are ranked at 106 allowing 260.6 yards a game.

This game might be high-scoring shootout through the air based on those stats and personnel expected to hit the field in San Diego. The game kicks off December 28th at 5 pm PT on FOX.

READ MORE: Oregon Ducks transfer portal tracker

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Josh Parker
JOSH PARKER

Josh Parker is a student at the University of North Florida who will be graduating in the winter of 2022 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Sports Management. He has spent the last six years building vast sports experience as a Division 1 football player at Stetson University, varsity football coach at Nease and Bishop Kenny High Schools. He primarily covers football and recruiting at Ducks Digest.

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