With Their New QB, Ducks Nix Any Ideas This Was a Rebuilding Year

The Auburn transfer personally has accounted for 35 touchdowns.

He is the most formidable Bo the University of Washington football team has had to face since Bo Schembechler.

He can throw it high and hard and has a girl on his arm like Bo Belinsky, and plays to a large crowd like Bo Diddley.

Unfortunately, the Huskies don't have Bo Yates to try and stop him.

Bo Nix is now on deck, ready to take an at-bat against the UW on Saturday afternoon at Autzen Stadium, stepping in as Oregon's fearsome new dual-threat quarterback and the second most-famous Bo to come out of Auburn.

As that clever NIKE advertising promotion reminded us over and over three decades ago about that other dual-threat athlete — in football and baseball — that named Jackson, "Bo Knows."

Bo Nix has helped the Ducks off to an 8-1 start :: James Snook/USA TODAY Sports

This Bo, all 6-foot-2 and 213 pounds of him, is at Oregon for his senior year because he knows he couldn't stay at Auburn as long as former Boise State coach Bryan Harsin was his leader and a SEC fish out of water. 

So he left Harsin behind to ultimately get fired as coach this season and came West because he knew his former Auburn offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham was now employed by the Ducks and more than willing to help revitalize his game and get him ready for an NFL career.

So who is this Bo Nix, the man in the Oregon mix?

He's the son of Patrick Nix, who was an accomplished Auburn quarterback himself from 1992-95, fired a few times as a college head and assistant coach, and now coaches high school football in Alabama.

He's the husband of the former Izzy Smoke, a one-time Auburn cheerleader who married him and they went on a honeymoon to Cabo San Lucas shortly before he reported to Oregon for fall camp.

He's a guy who naturally has Kalen DeBoer's defensive coaching staff highly concerned and working long into the night trying to figure out how to slow him down.

Bo Nix calls signals against Washington State in Pullman :: James Snook/USA TODAY Sports

This Nix has thrown for 22 touchdowns and run for another 13, averaging 7 yards per carry, for the sixth-ranked Ducks, who have won eight consecutive games after falling flat against Georgia. 

"We compare him to DTR," said DeBoer of UCLA's Dorian Thompson-Robinson. "I think those two guys are similar with what they can do with their feet. They're experienced, played a lot of snaps at a high level. Nix is just playing with a ton of confidence. You can just see the way he's operating. The game has just slowed down for him. 

"I can't say enough good things about what he's doing in leading that offense. They're the best in the country for a reason."

This is a guy who became Auburn's first true freshman to start at quarterback since 1946, was named SEC Freshman of the Year and — here's the kicker — led the Tigers to a 48-45 victory over Alabama, this after beating Oregon 27-21 in his college debut, both decided by late scoring drives. 

So you can't rattle him. Unless you change coaches on him, which is what Auburn did, moving away from the more offensive-minded Gus Malzahn to Harsin, and causing his game to suffer and his love for football to wane.

Now he finds himself in the middle of the Northwest's own customized Auburn-Alabama-like heated competition, complete with all of the surrounding distracting fanfare.

"This kind of rivalry, I'm excited to see it," Nix said this week. "I'm excited to play in it."

The Ducks have played the UW fight song at practice to get ready for their opponents. Former Husky defensive tackle Taki Taimani reportedly has worn a UW T-shirt under his jersey all week to get ready for a reunion.

Speaking of jerseys, Oregon will pull on its all-lemon yellow version to host the Huskies in Eugene for the first time since 2018. And they'll introduce this new quarterback to this Interstate 5 mash-up.

"We're all excited and ready to go," Nix said. "We know the importance of the game."

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