Few quarterbacks in the country mean more to their offenses than the two that will square off in San Diego on Wednesday evening.
Oregon’s Bo Nix and North Carolina’s Drake Maye are among the sport’s best at the position. They are do-it-all players who are just as capable of connecting on balls downfield as they are of tucking it and collecting yardage on the ground.
Prior to Nix’s injury and a late season swoon from UNC’s redshirt freshman phenom, the tandem were first and second nationally in total touchdowns scored. While they’ve given up that distinction since, they’ve each scored 42 times this season, paving the way for two of the nation’s most dynamic offenses.
“In modern day college football when you have a quarterback, you have a chance,” UNC coach Mack Brown quipped during Tuesday’s joint head coach press conference at Petco Park. “These are two of the best quarterbacks in the country.”
Brown and Oregon’s Dan Lanning see the parallels between the two. Both were big-time high school recruits who initially played at the school their fathers’ starred at decades ago. They share an advanced understanding of the game having grown up in football families that has allowed them to quickly assume starting roles at the Power 5 level.
“You can see the leadership really runs through him. Similar to our quarterback,” Lanning said of Maye. “There’s no secret that the offense runs through Drake, and he is one of the best quarterbacks in college football. He is able to see the ball down the field and push the ball down the field. But his accuracy, his poise in the pocket and in duress is really, really impressive. Just his ability to play a four-quarter game.”
While the two players share a lot of similarities, they also differ too. This will be the first bowl game of Maye’s career to conclude the first season as a starting collegiate quarterback. Nix has already played in two bowl games, both losses at Auburn, and has been a collegiate starter before Maye was enrolled at Chapel Hill.
Brown has been able to appreciate Nix, who has accounted for 3,389s yards of total offense this season, from afar during his time coaching the Tar Heels.
“We’ve watched Bo for years. We saw him at Auburn, and I saw him make some unbelievable comebacks in the SEC,” Brown said. “He is raised a lot like Drake in a coaching family, and Mark coached Drake for years in seven-on-seven and him bringing up.”
Both players have meant a lot to their respective programs this year, and are already locked in to return for more a year from now. Nix has chosen to extend his collegiate career by returning to Oregon, while Maye has remained true to his Tar Heel roots despite rumors of transfer portal options elsewhere.
“Bo is playing in the game, which a lot of quarterbacks would not be,” Brown said. “He also is deciding to come back when he was the top draft pick, so he loves ball. He loves Oregon. He loves what they’re doing, and that’s the same with Drake.
“I noticed today that I think there’s seven starting quarterbacks in the ACC, I read a few minutes ago, who have transferred. Seven.”
Wednesday’s Holiday Bowl figures to be high scoring. The Ducks are ninth nationally in scoring offense this season. North Carolina is 23rd. Neither team has played what would be described as sound defensive football either, and a heap of portal and opt outs for each side have depleted those personnel groups too.
The Holiday Bowl could act as a springboard game for both to enter the offseason Heisman Trophy conversation. Kickoff at Petco Park is set for 5 PM and will air on FOX.
