Ducks make it dramatic in the end to top Tar Heels in Holiday Bowl

SAN DIEGO -- In a game that most predicted to be an offensive duel Wednesday night, the predictions fell through.

Points actually came at a premium, setting up a dramatic finish for between No. 15 Oregon and North Carolina in the Holiday Bowl.

Quarterback Bo Nix didn't play his most dynamic game of the season, but after leading the Ducks to just 14 points through three and a half quarters, he delivered big late with two touchdowns in the final 7 minutes to send Oregon to a momentous 28-27 win.

He first connected with Troy Franklin on a 6-yard touchdown to cut it to 24-21, two snaps after having another scoring completion negated by a penalty. The Ducks then held North Carolina to a field goal on the ensuing possession and got the ball back with 2:24 on the clock.

A 28-yard spinning catch-and-run by tight end Terrance Ferguson and a pass interference penalty on the Tar Heels on a pass downfield to Franklin set the Ducks up at the North Carolina 14. But the tension would mount from there as Oregon faced a fourth-and-2 at the 6 with 24 seconds remaining.

Nix, who had been the catalyst for the Ducks all season, took matters into his own hands during a timeout before that fourth down, calling the play and calming hitting Chase Cota at the 1-yard line on a pass he uncorked sidearm while moving backwards away from the pass rush. Cota had defensive back Don Chapman draped over him as he twisted in for the touchdown with 19 seconds left.

RELATED: Watch the postgame press conference with Dan Lanning and players | Perspective on Bucky Irving's big night for Oregon

That drama wasn't over yet, though.

Cota finding the end zone tied the score -- the Ducks needed the extra point to take the lead, and Camden Lewis' kick clanked off the left upright before caroming through for the 28-27 lead.

"That was a game that came down to the very last second as we all know," Oregon coach Dan Lanning said afterward. "We talked about it going into the game that we played 720 minutes of football this season and we had to play 60 more, and we played all 60 of it. So, couldn't be more proud. ...

"We talked about coming in tonight and really finishing the season with not a period but an exclamation point, and I'd say that was an exclamation point."

That exclamation point came in the form of a 10th win for the Ducks (10-3) in Lanning's first season.

Running back Bucky Irving was the star most of the night for Oregon, rushing for 149 yards and 2 touchdowns on just 13 carries (11.5 yards per carry).

Nix, meanwhile, didn't have a touchdown all game until those final 7 minutes, but he delivered when it counted and finished 23-of-30 passing for 205 yards, 2 touchdowns and an interception.

"Our defense did a great job just continuing to give us the ball back," Nix said. "I think in a game like that, they had a really good offense, they could have scored a little bit more. Our defense did a great job of stopping them and giving us the ball back several times. Finally, there at the end, we got two drives together and we went down and scored. I couldn't be more proud of Chase and everything that he's done for the team and just battling through injuries, being there for each and every one of us. It's only right that he caught that last one."

Lanning, meanwhile, revealed that Nix made the call on that game-winning touchdown.

"Bo did a good job calling what he wanted on that one, but we're all in agreement -- you believe in your quarterback, right?" he said.

Said Nix: "That's one of our go-to plays. We feel really good about that play. We've run it multiple times. It's hard to stop against guys in good situations. It puts Troy and T-Ferg and Chase and those guys in good positions to do what they do best. They brought a house blitz, and Chase knows over and over that that's the throw -- if we get [that look] he's going to get a natural pick there going across the middle. ... It just goes to practice and practice and practice. You know, you run that play over and over, and I think everybody on the sideline kind of wanted that play, and I just happened to be the one that might have verbalized it."

It was Cota's third touchdown catch of the season, and like Nix said, a fitting moment for a guy who established himself as a valuable veteran presence as a senior transfer from UCLA.

"Just what Bo said, if they were bringing house blitz, actually the whole prep against our defense, we never got that look once, but then we got it here on our practice site for the bowl one time and we missed it. We went over it, and sure enough it showed up in the game it was the same exact one, it was perfect, Bo saw it, it was an easy touchdown from there."

While the final point total was modest, the Tar Heels (9-5) were just as potent offensively as the statistical rankings suggested.

They sustained 10-plus play drives throughout the battle where quarterback Drake Maye executed with precision as he picked up multiple first-down conversions with his legs on third down after he seemed completely bottled up.

But the Ducks' defense was able to get to Maye twice in the first half with sacks from Mase Funa and Jeffrey Bassa, and in the end they held one of the top passers in the country (Maye was No. 3 nationally entering the game) to 18-of-35 passing for 206 yards, albeit with 3 touchdowns.

Meanwhile, Nix and the Ducks' offense utilized their running backs on the majority of snaps in the first half, whether it was runs or screen passes for Irving, Noah Whittington, and Jordan James.

Both teams were unable to capitalize on opportunities early as Oregon kicker Camden Lewis missed a 42-yard field goal and North Carolina Kicker Noah Burnette missed a 35-yard field goal on the subsequent drive.

Points that could’ve been the difference in the final score had anyone known how this was going to play out.

It was clear after the first two drives that Oregon’s offensive game plan was through the running backs and to prevent any possible injury to Nix, who played the final couple games of the regular season with an ankle injury.

A 66-yard touchdown run from Irving on the Ducks' third drive encouraged that scheme even more.

Oregon missed a chance to potentially go into halftime with an advantage, though, when Nix's red zone pass improbably deflected off the feet of multiple Tar Heel defenders and was intercepted by linebacker Power Echols and returned all the way to midfield, unquestionably swinging the momentum.

On the ensuing play, Kobe Paysour broke loose on a deep pass from Maye and scored a 49-yard touchdown, putting North Carolina up 21-14 with 26 seconds left in the half.

Both offenses started out the second half with three-and-outs on their first drive, and after the Ducks turned it over on downs deep in North Carolina territory, it was clear this wasn't going to be the offensive onslaught many expected from two high-scoring teams with defensive deficiencies.

Instead, the Tar Heels’ secondary -- which was down two top cornerbacks and a top safety lost to the transfer portal -- was sticking to the Ducks’ receivers like glue with so many passing plays ending in throwaways from Nix, partly due to Oregon’s continuous conservative game plan.

Though both teams undoubtedly made halftime adjustments, both defenses were able to execute better than their counterparts.

The halftime score remained still all the way up to the 9-minute mark in the fourth quarter when a 19-yard field goal put North Carolina up 24-14.

Down two scores with 9 minutes remaining, hope wasn’t lost for the Duck-heavy crowd but it sure was diminishing.

After a solid kickoff return by Irving, Oregon’s offense had no choice but to go back to their passing attack and a deep ball intended for Troy Franklin forced a 15-yard pass interference penalty which got the offense rolling again.

Franklin wasn’t done performing on the drive.

After a touchdown pass was called back for an ineligible man downfield, Nix went back to his favorite target for that 6-yard touchdown reception.

Oregon’s defense forced a 44-yard field goal attempt on the next drive, and this time Burnette converted — putting the Tar Heels up 27-21 with 2:29 left.

The Ducks needed a perfect drive.

On a series that started at their own 21-yard line, the Ducks stomped down the field with throw after throw from Nix.

After another pass interference penalty on the Tar Heels set Oregon up at the 14, the offense tried to play the clock management game by running the ball with Nix and Whittington, but North Carolina’s run stoppers stood tall and forced that dramatic fourth-and-goal.

The rest, as Lanning said, was the punctuation mark on a long and overall successful season as North Carolina couldn't mount a true threat in those final 19 seconds following Cota's touchdown reception.

In the end, with several weeks to stew on the loss to Oregon State that kept the Ducks out of the Pac-12 championship game, they finish 2022 off with some fresh momentum heading into the offseason.

"All we needed was time on the clock. You can't worry about the past, and you really can't worry about the future. You have to be in the present. I thought our team did a good job of being in the present," Lanning said. "I thought our players made great adjustments. Some of those drives where we stalled out and didn't get a first down, I think our guys believed we're going to get a stop and have an opportunity to do it again. That's what it came down to.

"You talk about phenomenal players making great plays down the stretch. That's what you saw. It took every fourth down, it took every yard, took every inch, it took every ounce of effort that our guys had to finish the way they needed to finish."