The Oregon Ducks had an interesting path to the Fiesta Bowl this season.
To start, their schedule didn’t kick off until November 7. By season’s end they had compiled a 3-2 record, and only qualified for the Pac-12 championship game after Washington was unable to field the 53 scholarship players required to play due to COVID-19 cases within the team.
No matter - led by quarterback Tyler Shough’s steady hand, Oregon shocked the USC Trojans in the conference championship 31-24, qualifying for the Fiesta Bowl and setting up Shough’s showdown with Cyclone quarterback (and friend) Brock Purdy.