Oregon’s Week 1 win over Boise State was clean on the scoreboard, but the ground game left room for more.
The No. 6 Ducks beat the Broncos 34-27, yet they finished with only 25 carries for 119 rushing yards in an offense that piled up 497 total yards. With a road trip to Oklahoma State up next, the run game is one of the main areas drawing attention as Oregon looks to sharpen things in Week 2.
Jordon Davison, Oregon’s leader in rushing touchdowns from 2025, found the end zone in the opener and kept his reputation as a scorer intact. On Tuesday, he talked about the areas Oregon wants to tighten up after the Boise State game and the different kind of challenge Oklahoma State presents compared with last season.
“I feel like we did a good job. Could have been better. Just hearing more voices and staying more positive, especially, I feel like I could have been a bigger voice on the sideline, just a bigger motivator.”
Davison also singled out teammate Ziyare.
“Ziyare is a hell of a player. He works his tail off, and he's gonna be a great player. I love running behind him.”
As for Oklahoma State, Davison made it clear Oregon isn’t carrying over any assumptions from a year ago. He pointed to the Cowboys’ reshaped roster and the conditions waiting for the Ducks on the road.
“They're a great team. We got to go in there with our head on strong, just ready to go in there and play a good team.
And the heat, it's a factor, but just hydration and taking care of our bodies, just being able to prepare our bodies for the heat. It's just like another environment thing.
So, the game is all that matters.”
Davison said he still feels good about where Oregon’s rushing attack is headed, even if the opener featured a few missed chances.
“Oh, very confident. We we're heading in the right direction.
Feel like us as a room left a couple opportunities just being one tackle away from breaking a long one. So just breaking more tackles and creating explosives in the run game was a big emphasis over the weekend.”
He also stressed that this year’s Oklahoma State team is not the same group Oregon saw before.
“Yeah, like you said, it's a whole different team, a whole new roster. I believe they have like 90 new players, so we we're not in that mindset of, ‘Oh this is gonna be like last year.’ We're in a mindset of we playing a really good team and a really good coach.”
Davison said Oregon’s focus has been on the basics: cleaner execution, faster starts and staying ahead of the sticks.
“Just everybody doing their job. I know I had missed the block early in the game, so I was kind of just beating myself up early in the game. But just being able to start fast - that's one of our emphases of becoming a elite offense, just starting fast, just staying ahead of the chains and not being behind the chains.”
He finished by laying out the technical work he’s leaning into to turn more runs into bigger gains.
“Just breaking, like I said, breaking that extra tackle, being able to make that one guy miss, using offhand punch, and just working on knee drive, just driving my legs out tackles.”
For Davison, the idea is simple: Oregon’s offense has playmakers everywhere, and the run game gets better when everyone does their part.
“It's elite players everywhere. So. we just got to get everybody to ball in their own ways and just being able to block for each other and create these pluses for each other. We take pride in that.”
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For a program that has made roster depth and development part of its identity, the message to the two freshmen was as much about process as it was about patience. Lanning pointed to effort and learning the system as the key steps before either player can expect consistent snaps, which says plenty about how Oregon plans to handle the offensive line this fall. The talent is there, but the Ducks are making it clear that trust in the trenches has to be earned. [Read more 🡒]