History Doesn't Bode Well For Bo Nix After Oregon Puts Up Giant Billboard In NYC To Begin Heisman Trophy Campaign
Bo Nix will exhaust his college football eligibility at Oregon this fall and will hear his name called during the NFL Draft in April. Before he gets to that point, the 23-year-old has two major goals in mind and they go hand-in-hand to some extent.
Nix wants to win a national championship and the Heisman Trophy. More than likely, if the latter is in the picture, as is the former.
The first three years of Nix's career at Auburn were very up-and-down. He won nine games as a freshman but just six as a sophomore and junior. Meanwhile, however, his completion percentage saw a steady increase over the three seasons.
There were moments of greatness:
There were moments that were not-so great:
The same can be said about Nix's first year at Oregon last fall. He recorded career-highs in completion percentage, passing yards, passing touchdowns, rushing yards and rushing touchdowns.
Nix magic was very real at times.
But his seven interceptions also matched a career-high and proved costly at times.
The Ducks won 10 games with Nix at the helm last season and will hope to replicate or exceed that success in 2023. It was somewhat of a surprise that their signal-caller returned for a fifth year, and there are high expectations for him to do something special.
So much so that Oregon begun the Bo Nix Heisman Trophy campaign in grand fashion.
Construction began Tuesday on a Nix-focused mural in New York City.
It was completed come Wednesday morning.
BO-ld. The bar has been set.
Nix is now expected to be in Manhattan for the Heisman Trophy ceremony come December. Anything short of that mark is a dissapointment.
And history doesn't bode well.
Oregon may have jinxed Bo Nix.
Joey Harrington had an impressive junior year as quarterback at Oregon in 2000. He completed about 53% of his passes for 2,967 yards and 22 touchdown (with 14 picks) while also rushing for seven scores. The Ducks went 10-2 that year and beat the Longhorns in the Holiday Bowl.
With all of the hype behind the program from the year prior, Oregon entered 2001 as a national championship contender. It went on to win 11 games, win the Pac-10 and finish No. 2 in the country.
Harrington was a big part of that success. He increased his completion percentage, threw more touchdowns and decreased his interceptions, and was a lot of fun to watch.
However, despite such a strong year, Harrington finished fourth in Heisman voting behind Ken Dorsey, Rex Grossman and Eric Crouch. That was after Oregon put up a billboard in New York prior to the season.
Harrington credits his invite to the Heisman Trophy ceremony to the billboard. But he didn't win.
Nix is now in the same position. The PR move is great, and an 11-win season that leads Nix to become the No. 4 overall draft pick like Harrington would be even better.
However, if history is to repeat itself, the Nix-focused billboard does not bode well for him winning.