Bo knows

Now that Nix has announced his return, it's officially time to get excited about 2023.

This one feels a little different, doesn’t it? 

This isn’t Oregon’s first dance with a quarterback flirting with the draft, but when Marcus Mariota returned for 2014 and Justin Herbert returned for 2019, it didn’t quite feel like this.

What is this? Relief?

I mean, the news cycle has been a rough one for Dan Lanning and the Ducks as of late. A season that flirted with a playoff berth came crashing down with losses in two of its final three games, Eugene has been the epicenter of the transfer portal and, for the last week, it’s been DEFCON 1 on the recruiting front with UCLA’s courtship of Oregon’s top-recruit Dante Moore. 

Caleb Williams is coming back. Michael Penix Jr. is coming back. Oregon State is all the way back — and on the hunt for a quarterback after thumping Florida for the Beavers’ 10th win.

Everyone will be better.

This isn’t Herbert returning to run it back one more time. This isn’t Mariota returning along with Ifo Ekpre-Olomu to make Oregon a national favorite. 

This is Nix dragging three defensive lineman across the line to keep a drive alive. 

This whole season felt a bit incomplete, didn’t it?