Ducks make a splash in Manhattan, but there's a hidden key to Bo Nix's Heisman campaign

 

A billboard went up in downtown Manhattan Wednesday. "Bo Dacious," It read, and everyone in college football is talking about it.

Kayce Smith works for Barstool Sports. She has 300,000+ followers, and her Tweet about the billboard had 80,000 views.

The Bo-Dacious Bo Nix Heisman campaign has apparently begun. Points for Oregon because this poster is sick. pic.twitter.com/WzRkbeO1on

— Kayce Smith (@KayceSmith) August 16, 2023

By the end of the day Joey Harrington, LaMichael James, Brett McMurphy, college football writer for the Action Network (105,000 views), Andy Staples of On3 Sports (29,000 views) and On3 Sports (303,000 views) had all posted about Oregon's bodacious marketing move.

Zachary Neel of USA Today's Ducks Wire achieved over 780,000 hits with his picture, live from New York on Wednesday morning.

Was just sent this update for the Bo Nix billboard in NYC. What a statement piece, and what a great recruiting tool for UO. (📷: @TheGuyOlson) pic.twitter.com/O9j33QYaWD

— Zachary Neel (@zacharycneel) August 16, 2023

Already the poster has attracted massive attention. It'll be among the opening shots shown before every Oregon game in September, and if Nix plays well, the buzz will only grow.

Will it win him the Heisman? No, only four months of sustained excellence will achieve that. But the billboard itself has already achieved its purpose: it's got people talking. Like the Joey Heisman billboard 22 years ago, it's focused attention on Oregon football and dreaming boldly.

Bold dreams are the first ingredient in the recipe for great accomplishments.

As long as the Ducks succeed in keeping Nix healthy, he's going to have a great season. He's experienced, confident and comfortable. He has a great supporting cast, a strong running game and perhaps the best array of receivers the Ducks have had in 30 years.

At spring practice he said, "I've grown so much off the field and on the field, as a leader and as a teammate. As a quarterback, you can't really put a price on how much you've grown. I think it shows now with my confidence out on the field."

"I have a different sense of awareness when I'm out there. Being under this offense, even though it's not all the same, I have the concepts down, so it's not as much thinking as it is just playing. It's matching what I know from what I've learned with what I'm being taught and just going out there and playing."

The skeptics in the national media bring up Oregon's offensive line as a potential weakness, but that o-line is going to be tremendous. There's so much leadership and plus-athleticism in that group, and the portal additions, Junior Angilau, Nishad Strother and Adjani Cornelius, are all experienced starters who are mature leaders. Left tackle Josh Conerly is a former five-star and one of the hardest workers in the unit. Jackson Powers-Johnson, Marcus Harper, Steven Jones all have starting experience, all reliable, smart football players.

What will make them even more effective is that Nix is adept at salvaging plays, while Irving and Whittington excel at creating runs and finding daylight. That trio makes an offensive line look good, often succeeding in erasing their mistakes.

There are no legitimate worries about the Oregon offense. They'll score and they'll be consistent. That's important because for a school like Oregon, the Heisman is a team award. The Ducks aren't yet in the rarefied air of Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State and Michigan where any skill player who has a good-to-great season instantly becomes a Heisman frontrunner. For a Duck to become the school's second-ever Heisman recipient, UO has to be a playoff contender and win 10+ games. 

Nix has to do his part, of course, something like 3500 yards passing, 500+ rushing, 40 or more total TDs. All those numbers are achievable for him, though the balance in the offense could work a bit against him at times. 

There's one other thing he needs, and this part is partly out of his control: for Bo Nix to make it to New York, he needs to win those marquee showdowns with Tyler Shough, Michael Penix, Caleb Williams, Cam Rising and DJ Uiagalelei.

Nix played well last season in every big game, but he needs something he didn't get a year ago: the pass rush and the secondary must be better. The billboard will curl at the edges if Nix puts up good numbers in those key games, only to have his defense get burned for big pass plays to lose them in the second half.

With the focused additions the coaching staff made in the transfer portal, there's a strong chance Nix will get the support he needs from the Oregon defense. Come December, he'll be taking a picture in front of that billboard.