Oregon scores 45 unanswered points in rout over Liberty in 53rd Fiesta Bowl
After being three points away from a potential College Football Playoff berth, No. 8 Oregon viewed the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl as unfinished business.
No. 23 Liberty became collateral damage as the Ducks bounced back from Liberty’s opening touchdown drive and rained down 45 unanswered points to win 45-6, the highest margin of victory in Fiesta Bowl history on Monday at State Farm Stadium.
Oregon's defense was getting beat early on by Liberty’s blazing run game as the Flames racked up 69 rushing yards in the first quarter. But the Ducks caught up and held Liberty to 168 yards after the Flames averaged 302.9 yards per game. Quarterback Kaidon Salter was held to 25 yards on 10 attempts.
Liberty's four offensive penalties in the first quarter paid a huge price as the Flames lost 32 yards.
“We didn’t play our best game, we had a couple of turnovers, dropped passes, and penalties. That’s my takeaway as a coach on what we need to do to make sure our guys play their best game from a preparation standpoint,” Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell said.
"Coach (Dan) Lanning and Coach (Tosh) Lupoi do a great job of instilling that into our minds. Keeping our poise and going to the sideline and not getting our highs too high and our lows too low," Oregon linebacker Jeffrey Bassa said. "I think that’s something a lot of these guys are focusing on in the offseason is the next play mentality. We got to flush the next play and reflect on it and grow from it. On that first drive, we went to the sideline and kept our poise and we knew we were going to execute at the next level.”
Liberty didn't blame Oregon's schemes for its inability to recreate its past success, but matching up against Oregon's size in the middle was tough.
“They were the best defense we’ve played and you had to really scheme them up and make some things happen," Chadwell said. "When you get behind the chains and the sticks, you’re not able to do the things you’d like to. We had some big plays that happened, but they were few and far between."
Bo's final ride
There also wasn’t an answer from Liberty’s defense when Oregon’s offense started to heat up.
The prolific offense struggled in the first two drives with just a field goal. The run game managed 19 yards, while Bo Nix couldn't get it going with his receivers with two dropped passes. But after Tez Johnson dropped Nix's pass as the first quarter ticked down, Johnson made up for it with a 16-yard reception on the next play that set the Ducks up for a scoring drive in the second quarter.
Johnson, who made up for 11 of Nix's 33 targets, had big day in the absence of Troy Franklin, who opted out of the game to prepare for the NFL Draft. Johnson caught one touchdown on 172 yards.
“Tez had a Tez day. If you watch him every day, that dude goes out there, he gets open, he catches the ball, and he continues to do it over and over and over," Nix said. "I mean, I can't explain how awesome it was to get to play with him for a whole season. To see him do what he did and to see him cap it off with the day that he had today, it was like I told him going in, 'I'm going to throw you the ball as much as you're open. You just get open and we'll take care of it.' Sure enough, that's what he does.”
Nix capped off his storied college career with his 61st start — an NCAA record — and threw five touchdown passes on 363 yards. During the game, he set a new single-season NCAA record for completion percentage (77.45%), breaking Alabama's Mac Jones' previous mark of 77.36% in 2020.
The biggest of big plays from Oregon came when Nix threw a deep pass to the left for Gary Bryant Jr. for 50 yards. Bryant Jr.’s catch was part of a five-play, 95-yard drive that ended with Kenyon Sadiq giving Oregon a 24-point cushion at 3:50 on his 3-yard catch.
Other than Bucky Irving’s short run in the fourth quarter, Nix threw all of Oregon’s touchdown passes and tied for the most in Fiesta Bowl history. He led Oregon to a 45-6 lead before handing the ball over to true freshman Austin Novosad with over nine minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Not overlooking the opponent
Oregon was predicted as a heavy favorite over Liberty, which never faced a Power Five opponent this season, but there were still concerns of overlooking Liberty. Throughout the week, players talked about how much coaches have stressed not downplaying the opponents this season. Oregon's two losses this season came against No. 2 Washington and were only within three points.
Liberty had a chance to feed into the underdog role and upset Oregon, and it looked like Liberty had the Ducks flat-footed. Salter mixed up his looks in the opening drive, burning the Ducks with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Bentley Hanshaw at 2:23. A missed field goal following the play signaled doom for the Flames.
Quinton Cooley led the Flames with 79 yards and had the best breakout of the game on 41-yard rush in the third quarter, but the run game was downplayed for the first time this season.
Although Oregon was known more for its offense, the run defense had been effective this season and previously held opponents to 97.54 yards per game, the 12th best in the nation.
End of the Pac-12
The Fiesta Bowl marked the final time that Oregon represented the Pac-12 in football before it moves to the Big Ten next season. The Ducks have been champions in the conference 13 times since 1919.
“I think Oregon has cemented itself as a premier program in college football," Lanning said. "I'll say, more than anything, certainly grateful for some of the great games that exist in the Pac. But probably just as excited about what's happening in the future for us, where we're headed, the direction we're headed. The clarity, what that brings.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Bo Nix, Oregon rout Liberty in 53rd Fiesta Bowl
