With 4:26 remaining in the contest, up by a mere four points, hoping to extend their home and season winning streaks, the Oregon Ducks saw their playoff hopes dwindle as senior quarterback Bo Nix was shaken up on a two-yard designed quarterback run play. Nix was met in the hole by Washington Huskies’ safety Alex Cook who perfectly filled the running lane, which stopped Nix in his tracks.

The event could not have come at a more pivotal time. The Ducks had an opportunity to go up 11 and put a seal on the game, but the injury and following run which fell short of the first down marker stalled their 20 play, 91-yard drive, and they were forced to settle for a field goal. That play could go down as one of the biggest “what ifs” for this season and perhaps Ducks history.

Washington went on to tie the game with a 62-yard game breaking touchdown pass from quarterback Michael Penix to wide receiver Taj Davis, which gave Oregon the football back with 3:07 left in the contest.

While Nix was evaluated by the training staff, Oregon was forced to put in redshirt freshman backup quarterback Ty Thompson, who is yet to start a game in his Duck career.

Oregon refused to throw the ball on this drive and turned it over on downs when running back Noah Whittington slipped on the Oregon 33-yard line, which set up the Huskies with great field position to go ahead.

With 51 seconds to play, the Huskies’ kicker Peyton Henry drilled a 43-yard field goal to regain the lead for his team.

As Oregon’s undefeated conference play was in peril, it trotted the battered Nix out for its final drive. Nix threw two first down passes to give the Ducks hope, including a critical fourth down conversion to wide receiver Troy Franklin.

After an illegal touching penalty on Franklin, Nix was forced to throw a final end zone heave in hopes of winning the contest and saving the Ducks’ College Football Playoff aspirations.

Nix’s pass fell short of the end zone, and the Ducks lost to their rivals in heartbreaking fashion. 

Nix’s status was left in question for their matchup with the No. 10 Utah Utes. So much so that sophomore wide receiver Kris Hutson left the media uncertain whether Thompson would make his first career start against the Utes.

“Obviously Bo is down, so it’s next man up,” Hutson said at a post practice press conference. “He’s learned a lot from Bo, so he kind of took his game to the next level also. Ty’s a good player, great quarterback, very smart, and you know, can’t wait to see him out there ready to go.”

While it was a game time decision, Nix did in fact suit up for the Ducks on Senior Night, and he played through the pain of his injury — though not at full strength.

Nix threw for 287 yards, one touchdown, an interception, and a season low of -3 yards rushing, as he and his teammates put their team back in prime position to advance to the Pac-12 championship game and avenge last season’s blowout losses to the Utes.

In the postgame interview, Nix described his week of preparation with his status in question.

“There was so many guys that had ticky tack injuries, that were just bothersome. Ryan [Walk] battled all week, we were in the training room together, just feeling it out,” Nix said. “We’re like, ‘Hey what are you thinking, how are you thinking your feeling, we gonna give it a go?’ We just both decided, you know what, we’re both seniors, a competitive game like Utah, we want to be out there.”

Nix added that the week was filled with a roller coaster of emotions.

“Well it was up and down. There were times I was like ‘You know what I can go out there and manage,’ and then there were times when I was like ‘I can’t even walk, I don’t know how I’m gonna be able to do that,’” Nix said.

Several players — Nix included — admitted they weren’t sure if he’d be able to compete against Utah.

“I’ve never been a part of a game time decision, but this was legitimately a game time decision,” Nix said. “You don’t know with these kinds of injuries how adrenaline’s gonna work and how you feel during pregame warmups. Yesterday I was able to get out there and do some stuff, and it gave me some more confidence that it was possible.”

In head coach Dan Lanning’s opening remarks of the Utah postgame presser, he applauded Nix for his toughness and efforts in the game and the week preceding.

“I can’t say enough about our quarterback to play in this game after being banged up,” Lanning said. “Really having limited practice reps and that was certainly newsworthy to everybody else, but for him to go out there and have a gutsy performance was really important and special for this team, and excited for our win.”

When asked about Nix’s status for the upcoming contest against in-state rival Oregon State University, Lanning gave a witty response.

“I’ll let Kris Hutson answer that one. We’re just going to get back to work man and keep attacking it,” Lanning said.

Tune into ABC this Saturday at 12:30 p.m. to see if Nix suits up for the No. 12 Oregon Ducks (9-2, 7-1) against the No. 23 Oregon State Beavers (8-3, 5-3), as they look to punch their ticket to a fourth straight Pac-12 title game.