Bo Nix's status for Oregon football's huge game against the Utah Utes has been the biggest story heading into a contest set to determine the fates of several squads in the Pac-12 conference.

Nix suffered an apparent knee injury late in the fourth quarter of the Ducks' shocking loss to Washington, forcing the star quarterback out of the game for a drive.

The Ducks signal-caller did return to the contest, but his uncertain injury status leading into the game against Utah football has cast a dark cloud over Eugene.

During an appearance on his radio show, Oregon football head coach Dan Lanning said that Nix is “preparing himself as if he can go.” Here's the full quote from Lanning, per DucksWire.

“He’s (Nix) preparing himself as if he can go,” Lanning said. “But we also got some other guys ready to go if needed.”

Earlier in the week, Lanning kept any injury updates on Oregon football players- Bo Nix included- close to the vest.

Adding to the intrigue was the comments of Ducks wide receiver Kris Hutson, who said that “Bo is down, so it's the next man up”, going on to say that he “can't wait to see” backup quarterback Ty Thompson out there against Utah.

But Lanning's latest comments suggest that Bo Nix, who has been on the practice field this week for the Ducks, certainly is in a better spot than he was at the start of the week.

However, it still doesn't mean he will be out on the field for Oregon when they take on Utah. If Bo Nix is out, backup quarterbacks Thomspon and Jay Butterfield are prepared to pick up the slack.

Stay tuned for updates on Nix's status.