Record Watch: Several historical numbers set to fall for Oregon Ducks over next month
The Oregon Ducks have had a historic season thus far, which started off in Week 1 with the team setting the program record for most points in a single game with an 81-7 win over the Portland State Vikings.
Since then, we’ve seen that record-breaking trend continue as a number of the top players on the team put up stats that we haven’t seen in a long time for the Ducks, if ever.
So whether it’s Bo Nix, Troy Franklin, Tez Johnson, Ross James, or Camden Lewis, there are a number of Oregon Ducks records that could potentially be rewritten over the remainder of the season. The Ducks are guaranteed two more games this year — one regular season game plus a bowl game — and they are in a good position to add a third should they make the Pac-12 Championship game as well. On top of that, there is a world where Oregon could add a fourth game to the schedule should they make it to the College Football Playoff and advance to the National Championship game.
So what are the numbers and stats that you should pay attention to as we close out the season? Here’s a look:
This list has been updated with current numbers after the Oregon Ducks’ win over the Arizona State Sun Devils and will continue to be updated throughout the remainder of the season.
Career Completion Percentage
The Record: 70.4% (Minimum 50 Attempts) — Nate Costa (2006-2010)
Where We Stand: Bo Nix is at 74.8% with at most 4 games remaining.
What Needs to Happen: Nix needs to be Nix.
How Likely Is It?: Extremely likely. Unless Bo Nix completely falls off a cliff, this record is already in the bag for the Oregon QB.
Career Passer Rating
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The Record: 179.1 — Vernon Adams Jr. (2015)
Where We Stand: Bo Nix has a rating of 177.7 with at most 5 games remaining.
What Needs to Happen: Almost perfect play from Nix going forward.
How Likely Is It?: It could happen. Bo Nix is pretty familiar with posting high passer rating numbers, but the stats he would have to put up in the next few games make this pretty unlikely to happen.
Career Catches
The Record: 178 catches — TIE (Jeff Maehl, 2007-2010 // Sammie Parker, 2000-2003)
Where We Stand: Troy Franklin has 147 career catches
What Needs to Happen: Franklin needs 31 catches to break the record
How Likely Is It?: In 3 games, Franklin would have to average 10 catches per game to break the record. In 4 games, he needs 8 catches per game. It’s possible, but I wouldn’t call it likely.
Most Catches in a Season
(Photo Courtesy of Ethan Landa)
The Record: 77 — TIE (Jeff Maehl, 2007-2010 // Sammie Parker, 2000-2003)
Where We Stand: Troy Franklin has 68 catches in 2023
What Needs to Happen: Franklin needs 10 catches to break the record.
How Likely Is It?: Lock it in. Over the last 3 games, Franklin would need just 3.33 catches per game to break the record. If the Ducks play 4 games, Franklin would need just 2.5 catches per game.
Most Catches in a Season
The Record: 77 — TIE (Jeff Maehl, 2007-2010 // Sammie Parker, 2000-2003)
Where We Stand: Tez Johnson has 59 catches in 2023
What Needs to Happen: Johnson is 19 catches away from breaking the record.
How Likely Is It?: Unlikely. In 4 games, Johnson would need 4.75 catches per game to break the record and 6.33 catches per game in 3 games. Of course, you also have to take into account that Troy Franklin is ahead of him on this list, so Johnson would have to pass whatever Franklin puts up as well.
Most Career Points
(AP Photo/Young Kwak)
Camden Lewis officially broke the record for most career points in Week 12 against the Arizona State Sun Devils. All info below is outdated.
The Record: 384 — Royce Freeman (2014-2017)
Where We Stand: Camden Lewis has 379 career points
What Needs to Happen: Lewis needs just 6 points to break the record.
How Likely Is It?: Lock it in. There’s a good chance that Lewis breaks the record this week against Arizona State, should the Ducks give him PAT opportunities or allow him to kick two field goals.
Most Career Field Goals
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The Record: 51 — Aiden Schneider (2014-2017)
Where We Stand: Camden Lewis has 46 made field goals
What Needs to Happen: Lewis needs 6 more field goals to break the record
How Likely Is It?: Very possible. Lewis has struggled with field goals as of late, but it is completely in the realm of possibility that he hits 6 field goals over the final three or four games of the season.
Most TE Catches in a Season
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The Record: 43 — Ed Dickson (2007)
Where We Stand: Terrance Ferguson has 33 catches in 2023
What Needs to Happen: Ferguson needs 11 more catches to break the record
How Likely Is It?: Very likely. Ferguson needs to average 4 catches per game in 3 games to break the record. So far this season, he is averaging 3.3 catches per game, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw this record broken.
Career TE Touchdowns
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The Record: 15 — Josh Wilcox (1993-1996)
Where We Stand: Terrance Ferguson has 10 career TDs
What Needs to Happen: Ferguson needs 5 more TDs to break the record
How Likely Is It?: Very likely, depending on future decisions. It seems likely that Ferguson will return to Eugene for another season in 2024, though he is NFL draft-eligible. If he does come back, this record feels bound to be broken.
Season Punting Average
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The Record: 46.0 yards — Josh Bidwell (1995-1998)
Where We Stand: Ross James is averaging 49.8 yards per punt in 2023.
What Needs to Happen: Nothing. Just keep doing what you’re doing.
How Likely Is It?: Lock it in. Unless James shanks every punt for the rest of the season, this record is his. Even then, the Ducks don’t punt enough to drastically drop James’ average enough.
Most Points Per Game
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The Record: 49.6 points per game — 2012 Oregon Ducks
Where We Stand: The Ducks are averaging 46.5 PPG in 2023
What Needs to Happen: A lot. 697 points in 14 games is the magic number. So far, the Ducks have scored 512.
How Likely Is It?: Highly unlikely. Over the next 3 games, the Ducks would need a total of 185 points to reach an average of 49.7 points per game. That means scoring on average 62 points per game from here on out. I don’t think we can count on that.
Season Passing Yards
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The Record: 4,454 yards — Marcus Mariota (2014)
Where We Stand: Bo Nix has 3,539 yards in 2023.
What Needs to Happen: Nix needs 915 yards to break the record.
How Likely Is It?: It’s very possible. If the Ducks play 3 more games, Nix would need to average 305 passing yards per game to break the record. In 4 games, he would need to average 229 yards per game. The way he has looked recently, I wouldn’t be shocked to see it happen.
Season Passing Touchdowns
The Record: 42 passing TD — Marcus Mariota (2014)
Where We Stand: Bo Nix has 35 passing TD in 2023
What Needs to Happen: Nix needs 8 passing TD to break the record.
How Likely Is It?: Incredibly possible. If the Ducks play in 3 more games, Nix needs an average of 2.66 TD per game to break the record. In 4 games, he would need an average of 2 to break the record. Nix is averaging almost 5 TD per game over the last 3 games, so it wouldn’t be a shock to see him get this record.
Career Receiving Yards
The Record: 2,761 yards — Sammie Parker (2000-2003)
Where We Stand: Troy Franklin has 2,321 career yards.
What Needs to Happen: Franklin needs 440 yards to break the record.
How Likely Is It?: It could certainly happen. In 3 games, Franklin would need an average of 147 yards to break the record, and an average of 110 yards per game to break the record in 4 games. That’s a lot, but we’ve seen Franklin put up those numbers before.
Season Receiving Yards
Troy Franklin officially broke the record for most single-season receiving yards in Week 12 against the Arizona State Sun Devils. All info below is outdated.
The Record: 1,184 yards — Dillon Mitchell (2018)
Where We Stand: Troy Franklin has 1,093 yards in 2023
What Needs to Happen: Ranklin needs 92 yards to break the record.
How Likely Is It?: Lock it in. To be honest, I would be surprised if Franklin doesn’t break this record against the Arizona State Sun Devils this weekend.
Single-Season Completions
(Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
The Record: 304 completions — Marcus Mariota (2014)
Where We Stand: Bo Nix has 282 completions in 2023.
What Needs to Happen: Nix needs 22 completions to break the record.
How Likely Is It?: Lock it in. Nix will almost undoubtedly break this record on Friday against the Oregon State Beavers.
Single-Season Passing Attempts
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The Record: 445 passing attempts — Marcus Mariota (2014)
Where We Stand: Bo Nix has 361 attempts in 2023.
What Needs to Happen: Nix needs 85 attempts to break the record.
How Likely Is It?: Very likely. In 3 games, Nix would need an average of 28.4 attempts per game to break the record and just an average of 21.25 attempts per game in 4 contests. For reference, Nix hasn’t attempted fewer than 25 passes in a single game this year.
Career Receiving Touchdowns
(Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
The Record: 24 TD — TIE (Josh Huff, 2010-2013 // Jeff Maehl, 2007-2010 // Keenan Howry, 1999-2002 // Cristin McLemore, 1993-1995)
Where We Stand: Troy Franklin has 24 TDs in his career.
What Needs to Happen: Franklin needs 1 TD to break the record.
How Likely Is It?: Lock it in. I would be shocked if Troy Franklin was held without a touchdown for the remainder of the year.
Season Receiving Touchdowns
Troy Franklin officially broke the record for most single-season touchdowns in Week 12 against the Arizona State Sun Devils. All info below is outdated.
The Record: 12 — TIE (Josh Huff, 2013 // Jeff Maehl, 2010)
Where We Stand: Troy Franklin has 11 TD in 2023.
What Needs to Happen: Franklin needs 2 TDs to break the record.
How Likely Is It?: Extremely likely. Again, I’m not going to lock it in, but I feel just about as confident as you can that Franklin will break this record without being 100%.
100-Yard Games in a Season (WR)
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The Record: 6 100-yard Games — TIE (Dillon Mitchell, 2018 // Josh Huff, 2013)
Where We Stand: Troy Franklin has 6 games with 100-plus yards in 2023.
What Needs to Happen: Franklin needs 1 game with 100 yards to break the record.
How Likely Is It?: Very likely. I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if Franklin can cross the century mark one more time throughout the rest of the season to break this record. He’s done it enough to show us how possible it is.
100-Yard Games in a Career (WR)
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The Record: 11 — Demetrius Williams (2002-2005)
Where We Stand: Troy Franklin has 10 career 100-yard games.
What Needs to Happen: Franklin needs 2 100-yard games to break the record.
How Likely Is It?: Very possible. While I could see Franklin getting across the century mark one more in the final 2-4 games to get the single-season record, I’m not sure if we should expect to see it twice. With that being said, I’m not sure anyone would be surprised to see it happen.
