Former Auburn football star quarterback Bo Nix’s new team, Oregon, has been disrespected thus far during the 2023 season according to several analysts — who have called the Ducks the “middle child” in the Pac-12 and have conceded to being “dumb” for underrating Oregon in the offseason.
“At No. 17, we had Oregon — this was dumb,” Greg McElroy said on the October 4 edition of “Always College Football” (h/t On3). “We should have had them as a Top-10 team. This group has been awesome. They have been awesome so far up to this point. Now, I know they beat Colorado but they made Colorado look really bad. I don’t think Colorado is as bad as they looked against Oregon. I like what I’ve seen from Oregon so we were dumb. We missed this one. They should have been much higher than they were.”
“Don’t you think Oregon feels a little bit like the middle child? I think that they do,” Joel Klatt said on his show on October 4. “That’s why you saw what you saw from Dan Lanning (against Colorado). He acted a little bit like my middle child, right? ‘Hey, look at us. We’re not in it for clicks. But, seriously, look at us, please.’ I mean, that was Oregon, and I get it.”
Ex-Auburn football star Bo Nix would’ve had desired spotlight on the Plains
Nix is better off where he is now in Eugene, Oregon, with Dan Lanning finding two different offensive coordinators — current Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham in 2022 and Will Stein in 2023 — getting the most out of him at a school he clearly enjoys being at. No one is saying anyone should have any regrets.
But to address the points that McElroy and Klatt made, that spotlight Nix and the Ducks are missing would be shining at blinding levels had the Pinson product stayed on the Plains instead of taking to the transfer portal following the 2021 season.
Anyone needing evidence simply needs to go to YouTube and rewatch the spectacle that was Cadillac Williams’s Jordan-Hare Stadium leading a 3-6 Auburn against a 3-6 Texas A&M, and then go to Google and look back at all the national round-ups after that November 12 matchup.