By Aiden Hess
It’s no secret that Troy Franklin has been the favorite target of Ducks’ quarterback Bo Nix five games into the Oregon Football season. Franklin has gotten off to a crazy start to the year and easily the fastest of his collegiate career. So far in 2023, he has put up a team leading seven receiving touchdowns and 535 yards. If Franklin can keep up even a similar pace all the way through his year, we may see his name be in recognition for the Fred Biletnikoff Award given to the nation’s best wide receiver.
Last Saturday, the Ducks traveled to Palo Alto, Calif. to take on the Stanford Cardinal in their first Pac-12 matchup of the season. Oregon’s offense sputtered out of the gate, going three and out on their first two drives. Oregon trailed Stanford 3-0 after the first quarter and fell behind 6-0 after another long Cardinal field goal in the second quarter. It wasn’t until a touchdown drive in the middle of quarter number two highlighted by a big touchdown run from Jordan James who scampered for 43 total yards on the drive. The Ducks took a 7-6 lead and didn’t look back from that point on. Oregon’s offense got into the endzone five more times and ended the ballgame racking up 42 total unanswered points cementing back-to-back weeks with 42-6 wins over their opponents.
Despite the all-around slow start on offense, Troy Franklin ended his day in dominant fashion. When the final gun sounded, Franklin finished his day totaling seven catches for 117 yards and two touchdowns once again. It was the third game of the season he found paydirt twice, first in the season opener against Portland State and the week prior versus Colorado. Franklin’s first score saw him on the receiving end of a Bo Nix deep ball that he caught along the near sideline at the 20-yard line. Franklin then made a cut back at the 15 to slip by a would-be tackler for the score. His second touchdown wasn’t as lengthy, catching an out wide screen pass and running inside the corner of the endzone from five yards out for his second six of the quarter.
Franklin has accounted for nearly half of Bo Nix’ passing touchdowns hauling in seven of the fifteen aerial strikes. The chemistry and confidence between the two players have been off the charts and as Pac-12 play gets into full swing, look out for the man who wears double 1s.