The latest top-10 showdown is set to take place in Seattle.
No. 8 Oregon will travel and play No. 7 Washington on the road, and the two teams will meet for what could be the final time within the Pac-12 Conference before the two move to the Big Ten in 2024.
“Hostile can be fun,” Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said. “I think this one will be one of those environments. There’s going to be a lot of distractions, a lot of pieces going on outside the puzzle, but we really focused on being the eye of the storm, the calm within the storm. And I think our guys will handle that well.”
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Oregon enters the game riding a six-game winning streak dating back to the Holiday Bowl last season.
The Ducks will have fifth-year quarterback Bo Nix under center, and his experience will likely be a key to helping them during the game.
“You got to just take it day by day and treat it for what it’s worth,” Nix said. “It’s going to be a top-10 matchup, it’s going to be a lot of noise, a lot of hype, but at the same time you got to strap it up and go play football and just do what we do and you know they’re going to do the same so it just turns into a football game and that’s exactly what it is each and every week. You can’t make it too big. You can’t let the moment get too high. You got to stay focused on the main thing and that’s just going out and executing.”
Managing emotions and making the most of a given situation has been among the biggest tasks Oregon has faced this season.
The Ducks have the No. 2 total offense in the country averaging 555.8 yards per game. The dominance has been a product of consistency that Lanning has seen for a while.
“I’ve been really pleased with our progress every day since fall camp,” Lanning said. “I feel like our players have certainly came and attacked every single day, looked for a way to get better and embraced the strain and the grind of football season, and (I’m) looking for them to continue to do that.”
Nix has played in a big game or a few in his career. He was part of last season’s top-10 matchup against UCLA after which the Ducks prevailed 45-30 behind 283 passing yards from Nix.
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Nix arrives at Saturday’s top-10 matchup as the leader in completion percentage with an 80.4% rating and tied for No. 8 with 15 passing touchdowns. He embraces the big stage rather than shies away from it.
“I don’t have to do any of that with Bo. He’s a pro,” Lanning said. “It wouldn’t matter who he’s competing against, when he steps on the field he knows what he wants to do. He knows what he’s capable of and how he can perform. I think this is why guys like Bo come to Oregon to get to playing games like this so this moment certainly isn’t too big. I don’t have to give him any encrypted message. Bo go out there and do your thing. That’s all I got to tell him.”
Nix said there is “definitely motivation” after last season’s 37-34 affair which Washington won.
“I think how the game ended last year is definitely not how you want it to work, but it’s part of it, and it can serve as a motivator or it can get you down,” Nix said. “And obviously, it’s one that I’ve been looking forward to just because of last year and how it ended. But I think that a lot of games you look forward to and I know they’re looking forward to it as well.”
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Nix has certainly played his way into the Heisman Trophy conversation, and Saturday will pit him against fellow contender Michael Penix Jr., who leads the NCAA in total offense averaging nearly 402 yards per game.
But the Heisman Trophy isn’t on the mind of Nix or a number of other quarterbacks and contenders. This week, Nix’s eyes are on the prize that could be a top-10 victory and a clearer path to the Pac-12 Championship Game.
“It’s hard because everybody does talk about it so you got to constantly keep your mind frame from going to all the noise, and you try not to let it get super loud and you try to control the things that you can and obviously stay off social media, not watch a lot of TV,” Nix said. “But it’s part of it, but at the same time it’s rewarding to play in games like this so you do want to appreciate it. I was just at the house yesterday watching the game last night and our commercial came on and it’s like that’s pretty cool. You don’t always get that opportunity. I’ve been able to play in a few but obviously each moment, they become bigger, and this will be a fun one, and I think both teams, both sides are just they’re ready for the game, ready for the atmosphere and like I said, you don’t always get these so we want to make the most of them.”
