If you actually held stock in the Oregon Ducks and had to watch your net worth rise and fall with every play of the game on Saturday, I’m sorry.

You probably needed a cigarette when all was said and done.

That’s the type of day it was for Dan Lanning and his squad in a thrilling, arguably miraculous 44-41 win over the Washington State Cougars up in Pullman. Oregon scored 29 points in the fourth quarter, including 21 in the final 4 minutes of the game. In a contest that featured boneheaded personal foul calls, an officiating crew that looked to be making up rules on the fly, and a Ducks’ comeback attempt for the ages, we learned a lot about this Oregon team.

Column: It’s about time that we had a talk about Oregon QB Bo Nix

We learned that the Ducks aren’t going to roll over when being put to the test under Dan Lanning, and that should give fans more confidence than anything.

As far as the individual performances go, there was a lot of good, and a lot of bad. Some guys, like Troy Franklin and Bo Nix, continued to soar. Others, like Brandon Dorlus and DJ Johnson, made such boneheaded decisions that it left many fans with heads in hand.

As we do every week, let’s  identify players who saw their stocks go up, and a few who might have seen a slight dip against WSU:

Stock Up: Troy Franklin

(AP Photo/Young Kwak)

This is three weeks running that Troy Franklin has seen his stock rise after an Oregon win, and I don’t foresee it dropping any time soon. Franklin was named our Ducks Wire Player of the Game on Saturday after hauling in 5 catches for a career-high 137 yards and the go-ahead touchdown for the Ducks.

At this point in the season, it’s pretty clear that Bo Nix has a go-to target on offense, and the true sophomore has run away with the title of WR1 for the Ducks.

Stock Up: Bo Nix

James Snook-USA TODAY Sports

In my weekly column following the Oregon game, I wrote about Bo Nix. I implored Oregon fans to revisit their feelings about the Ducks’ quarterback, who has been nothing short of spectacular to start the season.

He shone once again on Saturday, throwing for a career-high 428 yards and 3 TD on 33-for-44 passing. He had one terrible throw, which resulted in a pick-six for WSU, but stepped up in the most pressure-packed moments of the game and delivered a comeback victory for his team.

No matter what your perception of Nix was when his tenure started in Eugene, it’s time to reassess how you feel about him. All jokes aside, he’s been everything the Ducks could have ever asked for this season.

Stock Down: Brandon Dorlus

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Mistakes are always going to be made, but the last thing you want as a relatively young football team is one of your veteran leaders making a potentially game-costing mistake in a clutch moment.

That’s what Brandon Dorlus did on Saturday, getting called for an inexcusable roughing the passer on a 3rd and 18 in the 4th quarter that, had Dorlus not hit Cameron Ward in the face, would have given the Ducks the ball back with a chance to tie the game.

Of course, things worked out in the end and Oregon was able to pull out the victory, but the point remains. Dorlus needs to have more situational awareness and not hurt the team in a pivotal moment like that.

Stock Up: Offensive Line

James Snook-USA TODAY Sports

The Ducks came into this game as one of the best offensive lines in the nation, one of just a handful of teams yet to give up a sack on the year. The Cougars entered the contest with one of the best defensive lines in the nation, averaging five sacks per game.

Oregon won that battle of the immovable object vs. unstoppable force and now stands as the only team left in the nation yet to give up a sack.

“Those guys went down and executed,” Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said. “Obviously, a lot of things didn’t go right in the first half, getting down in the red area and not being able to score, but to walk out of this game, without giving up a sack, that’s a credit to our offensive line. This is probably the most challenging look that we’ve seen upfront from Washington State.”

We’ve spent a lot of time talking about how good Bo Nix has been this season, but a lot of that is due to the fact that he’s been able to sit in the pocket and focus his attention down-field, rather than searching for escape routes and throw the ball under duress. Credit to the big boys up front, they’ve been the unsung heroes through the first four weeks.

Stock Down: D.J. Johnson

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Much like with Brandon Dorlus, you simply have to expect one of your defensive leaders to be smarter down the stretch. It’s hard to knock DJ Johnson a ton in a game where he had two sacks and was a handful for the opposing OL, but a frustration-fueled personal foul call and a targeting penalty late in the game that saw him ejected — and in turn suspended for the first half of the Stanford game — are tough ones to look past.

Dan Lanning said it best after the game.

“DJ knows I love him, but I was extremely disappointed in the way he managed the moment right there,” Lanning said. “That he made a huge play for our team and then it almost hurt us. DJ’s gotta learn from that, our team has to learn from that, not everybody has to make make a mistake for us to learn from a mistake. But that was certainly a critical one. One that I hope we don’t make again.”

Of course, whether Johnson’s targeting penalty should have been held up or not is worthy of debate — I happen to think it was a pretty egregious call — but a veteran player needs to have the wherewithal to not be in that situation in the first place.

Stock Down: Kenny Dillingham

There was a real dichotomy in Oregon’s offense on Saturday. When they were in the open field and had room to move, they were incredible, racking up a total of 624 yards of offense with an average of 8.1 yards per play and 13.1 yards per completion. Inside the 10-yard line, though, it was a different story.

The stats show that Oregon was 6-for-7 in the red zone, but let me remind you how things went in the first half once the Ducks got into scoring position:

• Oregon ball, first-and-goal from the 5. Ensuing plays: false start; no gain; gain of 3; loss of 2; field goal.

• Oregon ball, first-and-goal from the 2. Ensuing plays: Loss of 1; loss of 2; loss of 5; field goal.

• Oregon ball, first-and-goal at the 7. Ensuing play: Interception, taken back for a WSU touchdown.

• Oregon ball, first-and-10 from the 11. Ensuing plays: Gain of 2; gain of 1; loss of 3; field goal.

Whether that’s execution or play-calling is above my pay grade, but I am qualified to say that it isn’t good enough. While I still have the utmost confidence in Kenny Dillingham as a play-caller and the mastermind behind this offense, the Ducks have something to prove in the red zone.

Things will certainly get better as Oregon goes against lesser defenses. If you’re a Duck fan, maybe you can just convince yourself that Dillingham was doing his best to remove his name from contention for the Arizona State job. 

Stock Up: Bucky Irving

James Snook-USA TODAY Sports

Much like Troy Franklin, the stock for Bucky Irving just continues to rise. We were sold on a committee approach coming into this season for the Ducks, but it’s starting to look like Irving is separating from the rest of the pack, at least when it comes to production.

Both Irving and Noah Whittington paced the backfield with 11 carries apiece — Irving went for 81 yards, Whittington for 69 — but it was the former Minnesota Golden Gopher’s production in the passing game that impressed me the most. He finished the day with 5 catches for 38 yards and a touchdown, no reception more important than the one for 21 yards on 4th and 2 that kept Oregon alive in the fourth quarter.

No matter where you line him up, Irving has found a way to make plays this year for the Ducks.

Stock Up: Camden Lewis

(AP Photo/Young Kwak)

We said that the offensive line has been an unsung hero for the Ducks so far this year, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t include Camden Lewis in that category as well. Without Lewis on Saturday, the Ducks could have been in a dire situation.

Through four games, Lewis is a perfect 6-for-6 on field goals and 18-for-18 on extra points. After a long and frustrating history that has lived in Eugene when it comes to kickers, it’s extremely nice to have a reliable player back there who you can count on in pressure situations.

Stock Down: Sean Dollars

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We have somewhat of an explanation for why Byron Cardwell isn’t playing in Oregon’s offense — he’s been dealing with a foot injury that has sidelined him for the past two games. We don’t quite know why Sean Dollars isn’t getting any look, though.

After getting just one carry against BYU, Dollars didn’t get any rushing attempts on Saturday vs. Washington State and only saw two targets that went for 1 yard on the day. While Bucky Irving and Noah Whittington continue to get a lot of run, it appears that Dollars has fallen behind in the RB depth chart.

Stock Up: Dan Lanning

James Snook-USA TODAY Sports

This isn’t the type of game that I expected to see Dan Lanning and the Ducks win in his first year as a head coach. In a tough environment with a lot of things going wrong early on, we’ve seen past Oregon teams fold in this scenario, resulting in a season-crushing loss. Instead, Lanning was able to get his team to dig deep and they came out in the second half with the necessary adjustments to get back on top.

That’s a refreshing site for Oregon fans, who have been frustrated endlessly by this type of loss in the past. It’s too early to say for sure, but it appears that we might be past that under this new regime.

Story originally appeared on Ducks Wire