EUGENE - Oregon got the win it needed Saturday, but not the kind that makes a No. 2 team look untouchable.
The Ducks escaped Boise State 34-27 at Autzen Stadium, and Dan Lanning didn’t bother dressing it up afterward. Walking off the field with little emotion, greeting his family near the 25-yard line and later addressing the day, he made clear his team had plenty to clean up.
“They made a difference again today and we didn’t do enough ultimately to be able to make them proud consistently,” Lanning said. “There’s a lot that we can do a lot better.”
That was the story of the afternoon. Oregon came in as a 24.5-point favorite, ranked No. 2 in the country and carrying the weight of its highest preseason ranking in program history. Instead of rolling, the Ducks were pushed into a real game, trailing 17-14 at halftime and still tied 27-27 in the fourth quarter against a Boise State team that had just moved into the Pac-12 after dominating the Mountain West Conference.
Boise State finished 0-1, but it never played like a team overmatched by the moment. Oregon, meanwhile, looked far less polished than other top-ranked teams that opened with easy wins.
While No. 1 Ohio State, No.
3 Georgia, No. 5 Texas and No.
6 Indiana combined to beat their opponents 230-29, the Ducks had to grind for every inch.
Lanning pointed to the same pattern Boise State showed in last year’s 37-34 loss in Eugene. The Broncos again found ways to win key moments and stay alive despite Oregon’s talent advantage.
“We kind of gave them an opportunity, a chance to hang around,” Lanning said.
The numbers told part of the tale. Oregon piled up 497 yards to Boise State’s 274, but the Ducks also committed 10 penalties for 90 yards, many of them early. Lanning was blunt about the start.
“We talk about starting fast,” Lanning said. “We didn’t start fast tonight. So that didn’t show up for us.”
There were also questions up front. Oregon started four new faces on the offensive line: sophomores Ziyare Addison at left tackle and Douglas Utu at left guard, senior Iapani Laloulu at center, transfer fifth-year guard Michael Bennett at right guard and junior Fox Crader at right tackle. The line kept Dante Moore mostly clean - he was sacked once - but the run game never really took over, finishing with 119 yards on 25 carries.
“I don’t know that we had the push that we needed consistently,” Lanning said. “So, we’ll go back and watch it and get a better evaluation.”
Moore gave Oregon the shot of offense it needed, throwing for a career-best 378 yards and three touchdowns. He didn’t try to hide the value of a tight game.
“I’m glad this game was how it was,” Moore said. “We got a lot to learn. Thank God it wasn’t a 40-to-50 point blowout because this just shows us who we are right now and what we have to attack coming into next week.”
Boise State quarterback Maddux Madsen kept the Broncos in it, too. He passed for 181 yards and three touchdowns, and Oregon’s defense had to work before finally taking control. The Ducks sacked him three times and tightened things up in the second half.
That was the stretch Oregon needed. After falling behind 17-7 in the second quarter, the Ducks answered with a touchdown before halftime and then scored touchdowns or field goals on five straight drives, each one necessary to tie the game or grab the lead.
“I thought, ultimately, our players as a group attacked that,” Lanning said. “There were moments in this game where it didn’t look good.
You’re down 10 points. How are you going to react?
And I thought they handled that well.”
For Oregon, the result wasn’t the kind that screams championship contender in September. But it was a reminder that the season is built over months, not one afternoon.
The Ducks survived a test, and Lanning saw value in that even if the performance wasn’t clean.
In his view, Boise State had plenty to do with it.
“That team’s going to win a lot of games this year …” Lanning said of Boise State. “But ultimately, we did enough to come away with a win.”
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