Oregon Ducks football

The Oregon Ducks and the North Carolina Tar Heels will compete for holiday cheer in the Holiday Bowl on Wednesday at Petco Park at 8 p.m. ET.

Three-and-out for the UNC defense to start the second half. UNC defense holds on fourth-and-7, with Oregon having reached the Tar Heels' 27-yard line. 57-yard punt for Kiernan.— InsideCarolina (@InsideCarolina) Oregon pulls within 24-21 of UNC with 6:58 left.— InsideCarolina (@InsideCarolina) Burnette worked the draw there inside of the right upright.— InsideCarolina (@InsideCarolina) [December 29, 2022] Play stands up under review. UNC has displayed some offensive firepower of their own as they rank seventh in the nation when it comes to passing touchdowns, with 35 on the season. The last quarter was a mere formality since it was already 39-10 by the third quarter. That receiving effort made it the first game that Cota has posted more than 100 yards receiving. Oregon was up 31-17 at the end of the third quarter but couldn't hold on to the lead. The Oregon Ducks and the North Carolina Tar Heels will compete for holiday cheer in the Holiday Bowl on Wednesday at Petco Park at 8 p.m.

UNC football takes on Oregon in Wednesday's Holiday Bowl in San Diego. Here's how to watch online or on TV.

[UNC football has lost 3 straight, with ACC championship blowout. What's gone wrong?](https://www.fayobserver.com/story/sports/college/acc/2022/12/04/unc-football-collapse-what-happened-drake-maye-mack-brown/69699201007/) [Drake Maye says he plans to return to UNC football next season](https://www.fayobserver.com/story/sports/college/acc/2022/12/04/drake-maye-says-he-plans-to-return-to-unc-football-next-season/69680876007/) Report](https://www.fayobserver.com/story/sports/college/acc/2022/12/07/unc-football-offensive-coordinator-phil-longo-leaving-for-wisconsin/69710442007/) [UNC football transfer tracker: Tony Grimes, Cam'Ron Kelly, Jacolby Criswell, more leaving](https://www.fayobserver.com/story/sports/college/acc/2022/12/04/unc-football-transfer-portal-tracker/69692470007/) [Breaking down UNC football recruiting's lowest-rated class since Mack Brown returned](https://www.fayobserver.com/story/sports/college/acc/2022/12/21/unc-football-2023-recruiting-class-early-signing-day-analysis/69734761007/)

North Carolina head coach Mack Brown heaped praise on Oregon's Dan Lanning for the job he did in his first year in Eugene.

And that could have been a turning point for him in a bad way because he didn’t know a lot of those kids, and he has done an amazing job of pulling it together and keeping it together and putting himself in a position to have a great team.” Should be a lot of fun. In fact, Tar Heels coach Mack Brown spoke to reporters on Monday and commended the job Lanning has done at Oregon in his first season.

North Carolina Tar Heels try to snap a three-game losing streak as they face the Ducks at Petco Park. Drake Maye vs Bo Nix at quarterback.

The Ducks took their first possession for a touchdown on a 54-yard drive. The Heels are already playing without leading receiver Josh Downs, who opted to begin preparing for the NFL draft. Tight end Bryson Nesbit capped off the drive with a 14-yard scoring reception. Irving capped off the drive with a 2-yard score. Both kicks came on the end of the field that is around the pitchers mound for baseball. The Ducks had a touchdown called back due to an ineligible player downfield. Camden Lewis then missed a 42-yard field goal attempt slightly wide right. It marked Maye’s third touchdown pass, which tied the program’s record for a bowl game. The home of Major League Baseball’s San Diego Padres was converted to a football field for this event. the ball was thrown a bit behind intended receiver Terrance Ferguson. It then ricochet off linebacker Cedric Gray’s calf before being kicked into the air by Echols, who then caught it and returned it 40 yards before being knocked out of bounds. [Live updates have concluded for this event.

Oregon comes away from the Holiday Bowl victorious, earning their 10th win of the season on a dramatic two-minute drill by Bo Nix, finding Chase Cota in the ...

Nix finished the night with 205 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception on 23 completions in his final game of the 2022 season. [DuckTerritory on Twitter](https://twitter.com/DuckTerritory) and our full-time writers [Matt Prehm](https://twitter.com/Prehmmr247), [Erik Skopil](https://twitter.com/Erik_Skopil), and [Jared Mack](https://twitter.com/Jared_Mack7). Bucky Irving finished with 149 yards and two touchdowns as well, as the Ducks finished with 414 yards on the day.

Bo Nix: San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl hero. The Oregon Ducks signal-caller struggled for much of Wednesday's matchup against the North Carolina ...

That touchdown came on an incredible catch by Troy Franklin, but a North Carolina field goal on the ensuing possession pushed the lead to six. That gave him the opportunity to perhaps launch an early Heisman Trophy campaign against a fellow top quarterback in Drake Maye, especially facing a North Carolina defense that struggled for much of the year. Oregon scored touchdowns on its final two drives, with the last one coming on a fourth-down pass to wide receiver Chase Cota with 19 seconds remaining.

The North Carolina football team (9-5, 6-2 ACC) fell to the No. 15 Oregon Ducks (10-3, 7-2 Pac-12), 28-27, in the 2022 Holiday Bowl at Petco Park on ...

After losing its last three games of the season, UNC came into the Holiday Bowl looking to end the season on a high note. A pass interference on UNC’s defense gave the Ducks an automatic first down at the 21-yard line. After a quick stop by the UNC defense, an illegal substitution penalty gave the ball back to Oregon for the first down. With just under seven minutes to play, Nix passed into the end zone for a wide open touchdown, putting the Ducks within three. After a sack on Oregon quarterback Bo Nix and a couple of strong defensive stops, Oregon was forced to attempt an unsuccessful 47-yard field goal, giving the Tar Heels the ball on the 30-yard line. On Oregon’s third play of the next drive, Irving broke to the left for a 66-yard touchdown, putting the Ducks up 14-7.

That ranked 126th going into the bowl game. That defensive flaw showed up again against the North Tar Heels. The Ducks gave up two touchdowns in the first half ...

The Ducks scored 14 points in the fourth quarter, including the go-ahead touchdown with just 19 seconds left to play. Just like how the Ducks did it in 2000 against Mack Brown at Texas, Oregon came back in the fourth quarter to beat Brown and the Tar Heels 28-27. For Oregon, it was its third bowl win at the Holiday Bowl and second in dramatic fashion.

For a majority of the game, it was a frustrating affair for Oregon Duck fans, who saw a struggling defense try to stop Drake Maye and an offense that looked ...

UCLA goes for 10 on Friday! Oregon is the 5th Pac-12 team to win 10 games. We turned it over and they took advantage of it." Dan Lanning halftime radio: "It’s all about taking care of the ball. [December 29, 2022] As you would imagine, Oregon fans went through quite the roller coaster of emotions online. Oregon’s defense held, and the Ducks won the Holiday Bowl over North Carolina, 28-27. Trailing by 10 with under 10 minutes to play, Bo Nix led a TD drive that cut the lead to 3. The Oregon offense did just that, and a touchdown to Chase Cota tied the game with less than 30 seconds remaining.

The Oregon quarterback has ice water in his veins and is gifted in moving his offense quickly in late-game situations.

However, it’s going to take a mighty effort to get Oregon to the next level. Visions of a long return to set up a North Carolina field goal that would crush the Ducks ran through the minds of Oregon’s faithful, but that did not happen, although a close look at the films will show open lanes the return man overlooked. In many ways, the Ducks’ San Diego performance was a minor miracle as they came into town with broken hearts, a shoddy, under-performing defense and special teams that often put their offense and defense in nasty situations. Lanning has some talent in the secondary, surprisingly more at the corner position than at safety, where he has to find more players with instincts better suited to covering the middle. Not having your position coach to lean on during the game was a big loss for both quarterbacks and the relative conservative nature of play calling by both sides also seemed out of sorts. The Ducks scored touchdowns on two of their first three possessions of the game, primarily behind the broad backs of their fine offensive line. That brave effort, while the offense was missing in action, turned out to provide the eventual margin of victory. The defensive coaches made some good adjustments with their pass rush at halftime, looping the edge rusher wide to cut off Maye who was trying to scramble outside for a first down. Both Nix and Maye did not have their quarterback coach and play caller in San Diego as they were both settling into jobs at other schools; it seemed to show in the play and demeanor of both quarterbacks during the game. With 9:13 to play in the Holiday Bowl the Oregon Ducks’ embattled defense held North Carolina to a field goal, limiting the Tar Heels’ lead to 24-14. Maye was particularly effective on third-down runs and passes, mainly because Oregon edge rushers over-ran the quarterback, allowing him to scramble outside for 45 yards. The extra-point try, usually a simple thing, took a dramatic and scary turn when kicker Camden Lewis hooked the kick for the win high off the (lucky for him) inside of the left upright and bounced it between the posts.

The 2022 Oregon Duck Football season ended in San Diego with a thrilling come-from-behind victory over the ACC Coastal Division Champion North Carolina Tar ...

But going into an offseason with a bowl win for the first time since 2019's season will be the driving force for a wave of momentum for the Ducks. Every chance the ball got snapped and every chance we got a stop, you know, you saw every guy walk on the field with belief in what's about to happen next." What were our major concerns about this Oregon coaching staff when Lanning was hired back in December of 2021 and the staff became finalized? "I think the one thing that I have to give our players credit for is we were going to play with the guys that came on this trip. Oregon's third-down defense was one of the worst in the country. A lot of exciting moments, a lot of mistakes, and yet the focus to grind out a victory and find a way.