Notable quotes from Dan Lanning, Bo Nix after Oregon’s thrilling Holiday Bowl comeback victory
If you want to talk about exciting bowl games that live up to the hype, it’s hard to look past the Holiday Bowl matchup between the Oregon Ducks and North Carolina Tar Heels.
What was a solid start for Oregon slowly unraveled throughout the second and third quarters, leading to a comeback attempt from QB Bo Nix that saw the Ducks erase a 10-point deficit and end up winning the game in the final minute, 28-27.
The victory gave Dan Lanning and the Ducks 10 wins for the 2022 season, which was Lanning’s first as a head coach. It also gave Oregon their first bowl game victory since January 1, 2020, when Justin Herbert and the Ducks defeated the Wisconsin Badgers in the Rose Bowl.
After the game, morale was high for Oregon players and coaches, who met with the media to discuss. Here are some of the most notable quotes from Dan Lanning, Bo Nix, and others following the win:
Opening Statement
Lanning: “What a fun group to share a stage with right now. I’m thrilled and excited for our team. North Carolina is a great team. They fought. That was a game that came down to the very last second, as we all know. 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 as a testament to our players and how hard they work. In the coaching profession, there’s none better man than Mack Brown. You hope that you can just coach long enough to halfway resemble what he has done as a head coach, so I have ultimate respect for him and their program and what they’ve done. Real proud of our players to be able to cap this season off. We talked about coming in tonight and really finishing the season with not a period, but an exclamation point, and I would say that was an exclamation point.”
Offense Clicking Late
Question: What clicked for the offense late that allowed a pair of touchdown drives in the 4th quarter?
Bo Nix: “Our defense did a great job of continuing to give us the ball back. And I think in a game like that, I mean, they had a really good offense, so they could have scored a little bit more. And our defense did a great job of stopping them and giving us the ball back several times. Finally there at the end we got a few drives together, and we went down and scored, and I couldn’t be more proud of Chase and everything that he has 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.”
Comeback Mindset
Question: What was your mindset after trailing 24-14?
Lanning: “Yeah, 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. I thought our players made great adjustments. Some of those drives where we stalled out and didn’t get a first down, 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. They took every fourth down. They took every yard, took every inch, took every ounce of effort that our guys had to finish the way they needed to finish.”
Detailing the TD Drives
Question: What does it take for this offense to dig deep and get those late TD drives?
Nix: “It takes 11 guys to buy in and believe in that drive. And when you are down by I believe it was 10 points, you need to score there. So we knew what we had to do to go down and do that, and we did. Play after play we made sure we went down. There in the second drive we executed and had some explosive plays. T-Ferg had that long one to set us up. We get to the fourth and two, fourth and manageable, and it’s just who wants it more on that specific play and who’s willing to compete until the final whistle. Just, again, you give credit to every single guy on that offense. You give credit each guy that played a part. Each guy that went out on the field tonight. You can tell they were playing for more than just themselves. Just going back to Bucky’s long touchdown run, that was another Alex Forsyth check, so I have to give him a shout-out on that one. Alex has been incredible for us. It starts up front with those guys. Two drives at the end of the game. It starts up front with protection to get us going. Obviously, the skill guys do the rest.”
Defensive Stops
Question: With the late stop on 3rd down to hold UNC to a field goal, what did you see on that play?
Mase Funa: “Just a defense you have 11 moving parts and everybody did their job to make that happen. It wasn’t just on the play, it was on that whole drive. Focusing on just doing their job and doing simple better and that’s what we did. We executed and it came down to who wanted it more.”
Defense Stepping Up
Question: How impressive was this late showing from the defense with all of the opt-outs and transfers missing?
Lanning: “First off, Drake is as talented a quarterback as you are going to go against. The other is sitting right here. He is a hell of a competitor. He is a hell of a quarterback. You have to give a lot of credit to him. He had a good night. I think the one thing that I have to give our players credit for is we were going to play with the guys that came on this trip. The guys that are here, that’s who we are going to play with. If you are here, you are good enough because you’ve been working your tail off. There were guys on the field tonight that haven’t played a snap for us or played limited snaps for us all season. For me to see a guy like Micah Roth. Roth never made an impact on this team when his role has been limited all season, but when he gets in there, he does his job and executes at a high level and to do it with a level of belief that everybody on the field believed he would do his job. Those are moments that are exciting for me. Every chance the ball got snapped and every chance we got a stop, you know, you saw every guy walk off the field with belief in what’s about to happen next. So that’s exciting to see that happen.”
Momentum Shift
Question: With the INT at the end of the first half, how did that kind of shift the momentum and change things?
Nix: “I was ticked off. I was mad I put my team in that position. It wasn’t a great play on my part. It put us behind. At the end of the day it goes back to the 11 guys. In this case the 22 guys who were out there playing. Playing for one another. If one of us falls down, they pick us up. You get to the fourth quarter, and anything can happen in that close of a game. So I just give credit to our team. They didn’t quit. Could have easily kind of tanked at that moment. Bowl games sometimes happen that way. Guys start falling apart and start to not want to play, but that wasn’t us tonight. We continued to battle and fight. All it takes is one guy to start doing that. It kind of trickles away. Not a single one of us did that, and it just speaks to leadership of the team. Starts with Coach Lanning and goes down to each player. Just saw a bunch of guys out there battling and just competing.”
Big Picture
Question: What does it mean to you to have this group of players as your first team?
Lanning: “I can’t thank the guys in this locker room enough. It’s really easy when there’s change and transition. Especially for some of these guys change they didn’t pick. Some of them change they did. It’s really easy to buckle up. Especially when you talk about the adversity we saw early in the season when it didn’t go our way. But this group has never stopped and never wavered. You know, Mase knows what it’s like to be a championship father because he sees it every single day in our program from our coaches and he does it himself. He operates the way that’s necessary. Chase has a certain level of pride in the way that he attacks the field because he knows what it means to wear the O because he grew up wearing it. Bo being a husband. Bucky being a teammate, the son, the player. Every piece that he is for this team. I can’t speak enough on as a coach, I coach for the relationships. I love to win, but we have relationships on this team. Everybody says blood is thicker than water. I sure love these guys. Maybe not true blood, but I share blood with these guys. These guys are my family. They’ll forever be my family and they’ll forever be part of my first team here as a head coach, and for that I’m forever grateful.”
Mase Funa Future
Question: Have you decided about your future if you will return to Oregon or if this was your last game?
Funa: “Oh no, I’m coming back.”
