Heisman, Schmeisman. Bo Nix wants 14 wins.
If a reporter asked the 5th-year starter and news conference veteran a question about the Heisman Trophy he'd deflect it, talk about wins and team goals.
Nix isn't the kind to draw attention to himself. He doesn't have to--the attention comes with the job, being a starting quarterback on a Top 25 team.
After the fifth spring practice this April the press gaggle asked him why he returned for another season with the Ducks rather than turn pro. "I just wanted to exhaust everything I could in college," he said. "I didn't want to have any regrets. I was in a situation which was fortunate. Both were great opportunities and both would've been great decisions. Now that I chose Oregon, I'm all-in and it's going to be a great season. It's more time to develop myself and get better. There's room for improvement. I didn't want to leave college with nothing show for it. I want to do a good job this season and win a lot of games."
Last year the Auburn transfer paced the Webfoots to a 10-2 record and a win over North Carolina in the Holiday Bowl while passing for 3,593 yards and 29 touchdowns, both career bests. He set a school record by completing 71.9% of his passes. A true dual-threat, he ran for an additional 510 yards and 14 touchdowns, the TD mark tops in the nation among quarterbacks for 2022.
All that despite playing the last three games of the year on one leg. It was a courageous and gutty performance. He won two of those games without his best weapon, his escapability and knack for creating plays.
The experience will make him a better quarterback in a new season where he has all of his skills.
I like the fact that Duck fans don't have to worry about Bo doing something like painting "F Utah!" on his fingernails, something Caleb Williams did before the PAC-12 Championship Game last December.
The Utes won the football game 47-24 behind quarterback Cam Rising, who threw for three touchdowns and led a surge in the fourth quarter. Williams had a costly pick.
Antics and attention-grabbing stunts backfire sometimes. 2022 Heisman winner Williams is widely regarded as the best quarterback in the NCAA, but his team finished their season last year with a loss in the Championship game that kept them out of the playoffs, then a 46-45 loss to Tulane in the Cotton Bowl in which the Oklahoma transfer racked up 462 yards and 5 touchdowns.
Williams is great but he doesn't play defense. The nail-painting and camera-mugging can be distracting though, a turnoff for football-traditional Heisman voters. He'd have to be dominating to win again.
Ohio State's Archie Griffin is the only repeat winner. Only 15 times has the winner of the trophy gone on to also win the national championship, only eight of those have been quarterbacks.
There's a decent chance the eventual winner in 2023 will come out of the PAC-12 Conference. The league features four of the top signal callers in the nation in Williams, Rising, Washington's Michael Penix, and Nix. Just below them in another tier are Shedeur Sanders of Colorado, Oregon State's D.J. Uiagalelei, a two-year starter at Clemson, Cam Ward of Washington State, Arizona's Jayden de Laura and 5-star former Oregon commit Dante Moore at UCLA.
This season, maybe the last in the PAC-12, it's the conference of quarterbacks. There's a chance of a great duel every week, which is important for Nix's outside Heisman chances.
At Bet MGM sports, Williams is the favorite at +500. Nix a ways behind, fifth on the list at +1600, meaning that a $100 winning bet would return $1600, plus the $100 wagered.
| PLAYER | SCHOOL | CURRENT ODDS |
|---|
| Caleb Williams | USC | +500 |
| Jordan Travis | Florida State | +1000 |
| Drake Maye | North Carolina | +1400 |
| Quinn Ewers | Texas | +1400 |
| Bo Nix | Oregon | +1600 |
| Jayden Daniels | LSU | +1600 |
| Michael Penix Jr. | Washington | +1600 |
| Cade Klubnik | Clemson | +2000 |
| Carson Beck | Georgia | +2000 |
| Joe Milton | Tennessee | +2000 |
| Drew Allar | Penn State | +2500 |
| J.J. McCarthy | Michigan | +2500 |
| Kyle McCord | Ohio State | +2500 |
| Marvin Harrison Jr. | Ohio State | +2500 |
| Blake Corum | Michigan | +3000 |
| Dillon Gabriel | Oklahoma | +3500 |
| TreVeyon Henderson | Ohio State | +4000 |
| Brock Vandagriff | Georgia | +5000 |
| Cameron Rising | Utah | +5000 |
| Ty Simpson | Alabama | +5000 |
| Tyler Buchner | Alabama | +5000 |
The Ducks don't have to conduct an old-fashioned Heisman campaign for Nix. No billboards in Time Square or FedEx-ing pineapples. They don't have to send out a catchy "Bo Knows" brochure to the voters of the Heisman trust. His campaign for the award will be his playing resume, exactly the way the soft-spoken Oregon star would like it.
The schedule sets up wonderfully for a dark horse Heisman run. In September Nix has a high-profile night game on the road at Texas Tech, a game that should feature an Oregon win and lots of offense.
Two weeks later the Ducks host Sanders and the Buffs. Mid-October shapes up as a primetime matchup between Nix and Penix, featuring what may be two 5-0 Top Ten teams in Seattle. Then two weeks later Nix goes on the road to lock up with Rising.
If he and the Ducks survive that, USC at Oregon on November 11th becomes one of the most-watched games of the season.
All Bo Nix has to do to "steal" the Heisman Trophy is to keep winning. The challenge is, he'll have to do a lot of it on the road in tough marquee games. After some great moves in the transfer portal the Ducks have the firepower to support him, provided they keep him healthy.
In 86 days, the plan is no longer speculation and conjecture. It's a real thing unfolding before our eyes. To paraphrase the immortal Patrick Mahomes, responding to a gibe about Justin Herbert, "I'll see it when I believe it."
Believe it. You can always adjust your expectations later.
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