Oregon's Dan Lanning makes 'sweating' quip after barely escaping Boise State
09/08/2024 11:25 AM
As most analysts expected, the Oregon Ducks are off to a 2-0 start this season, however, head coach Dan Lanning’s squad has had a much more difficult time getting there than expected. The Ducks were 49.5 point favorites in their opening week matchup versus Idaho, but only managed to sneak out a 24-14 win over the Vandals. Their Week 2 matchup with the Boise State Broncos was even more problematic.
In the end, Oregon survived, coming away with a 37-34 win thanks to a game-winning last-second 25 yard field goal from junior kicker Atticus Sappington. But Oregon, who was a 19-point favorite heading into the game, did have to overcome a 7-point deficit with just 10 minutes to go in the 4th quarter.
Granted, there’s a good chance that at season’s end, Boise State could earn the 5th automatic bid into the newly expanded College Football Playoff, but even still, having to go down to the wire on their home field against the Broncos, or any unranked opponent, is cause for concern for one of the preseason favorites to win the Big Ten.
After the game, Dan Lanning didn’t mince words about the state of his team.
“We sure like sweating around here,” Lanning said after the game, according to Paolo Uggetti of ESPN.com. “I have a sense of relief because of the result, but there are certainly a lot of things to fix.”
The primary thing that Oregon needs to fix is an offense that was expected to be a fireworks show this season with experienced transfer quarterback Dillon Gabriel coming in to take over for Bo Nix. The 24 points that Oregon scored against Idaho was their lowest total since a 20-17 late season win over Utah in 2022. The 352 yards of total offense the Ducks mustered against Boise State is well below their 2023 average of 531 yards per game.
Oregon did also give up nearly 200 yards rushing to Heisman Trophy candidate running back Ashton Jeanty, but this might be the norm for any team playing against Boise State this year. Jeanty rushed for 267 yards and 6 touchdowns in Boise State’s Week 1 win over Georgia Southern.
For now, the Ducks will go back to the drawing board and figure out how to improve. But the important thing is, as expected, they’re off to a 2-0 start.
“We won, nothing more than a W. Now I’m thinking about what we can go fix,” Lanning said. “We put ourselves in some tough situations and we were able to come out of it.”
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