That disappointing loss to Oregon State is going to linger, but one way to forget about it would be to end the season with a victory over North Carolina in the Holiday Bowl.
It’s a contest or firsts as No. 15 Oregon will take on the Tar Heels in the first Holiday Bowl since 2019 and the first to take place inside Petco Park, the home of the San Diego Padres.
Both teams are coming into the game with a few disappointments to the end of their seasons.
Oregon lost two-of-three, including a game the Ducks just gave away in the 37-34 loss to the Beavers.
But North Carolina didn’t exactly shoot off fireworks in celebration in November.
The Tar Heels are on a three-game losing streak with setbacks to Georgia Tech, NC State and Clemson in the ACC title game.
They were 9-1 before this handful of losses. The Tar Heels’ offense has seemingly gone into the tank. The Yellow Jackets held UNC to just 17 points and Clemson stomped UNC 39-10 with their backup quarterback.
Since then, North Carolina, as with most teams, has experienced a number of transfers and players opting out of the Holiday Bowl and declaring for the NFL draft. Most of their starting secondary has left and the Tar Heels’ leading receiver, Josh Downs, isn’t with the program.
But UNC’s starting quarterback and Heisman hopeful, Drake Maye, is still with the program, and that in itself should give the Tar Heel faithful hope. Maye, a redshirt freshman, surprised everybody with his breakout season. He has thrown for 4,115 yards, 35 touchdowns, and just seven interceptions.
Maye has certainly caught the attention of Lanning and the Ducks.
“There’s no secret that the offense runs through Drake and he’s one of the best quarterbacks in college football” explained Maye when asked Tuesday morning about the Tarheel signal caller.
“I don’t know that he gets enough credit with his ability to run with the ball and he does a great job. He’s actually the leading rusher, he extends plays, he’s able to see the ball down the field and push the ball down the field with his accuracy his poise in the pocket when under duress is really really impressive … just his ability to play a four-quarter game.
“You can see leadership really runs through him. Similar to our quarterback. Like coach (Brown) said, if you have a quarterback, you have a chance and they have a quarterback. He’s elite.”
Oregon is also celebrating that its quarterback will be playing in the bowl game and Bo Nix announced he will be a Duck for 2023.
With a very inexperienced secondary across the line of scrimmage, Nix will be looking for a big game in San Diego.
“In a lot of ways, this is the crescendo to a season, but also the beginning of next season” said Lanning.
“And I think every one of our players when you play at the end of the season, you play long seasons like we play, there’s a lot of guys that are banged up. And having that opportunity to get fresh and be fresh is really the charge that we have as coaches, of making sure our players are able to make it to this bowl game and be able to play at full strength but also challenge ourselves.
“We see this as like 15 more (practices), it’s like another spring practice. It’s another window to really improve your team. And the challenge is finding guys like Bo that have great experience and making sure they make to the game healthy and ready to play. But I certainly think he feels a lot better than he did at the end of the season this week. I expect to see him play some of his best football.”
Oregon will also be dealing with its share of missing players and just like UNC, many of those are on the defensive side of the ball. Most notably, linebacker Noah Sewell and cornerback Christian Gonzalez won’t be available.
The Ducks are favored by nearly two touchdowns.
Oregon 48, North Carolina 24