Dan Lanning labels Boise State defense as 'exotic'

The Oregon Ducks are getting ready to host the Boise State Broncos for what should be an intriguing non-conference matchup. Ahead of the game, head coach Dan Lanning shared that the Broncos’ defense is presenting challenges thanks to how exotic it is.

Lanning explained that the Broncos do so many different things on defense that it forces the offense to be prepared for a large variety of possibilities.

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“It’s exotic,” Dan Lanning said. “They do a lot of different things. I think they create, you know, preparation — it makes it tough because of the different units they use and how much they move around. Do a really good job mixing coverages and changing things. So, it’s a tough one to prepare for.”

The Boise State defense is being run by defensive coordinator Erik Chinander. A former Oregon defensive assistant in his own right, he was the defensive coordinator for Scott Frost at UCF and Nebraska before coming to Boise State in 2023.

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For as complex as the defense can be at Boise State, the Broncos struggled in Week 1. The Broncos gave up 45 points in a road win over Georgia Southern. That included 29 second-half points that Georgia Southern scored in a comeback attempt.

For his part, Dan Lanning saw Oregon play inconsistently on offense in its first game. The Ducks finished the game against Idaho with a respectable 487 yards, including 380 passing yards, but only had 24 points to show for it in a closer-than-expected win. In particular, the Ducks offensive line struggled with its consistency and gave up three sacks.

Against an aggressive Boise State defense, finding a way to consistently protect quarterback Dillon Gabriel is going to be a key to the game for Oregon.

Dan Lanning shares players are ‘for sure’ aware Oregon is 0-3 all-time vs. Boise State

Despite being a power conference school with a good history of football success, the Oregon Ducks have never beaten the Boise State Broncos in three attempts. That’s something Dan Lanning made sure his team was aware of.

“We’ve talked,” Lanning said. “Our players are aware of the history of this game, for sure. Excited to get the opportunity to step on the field.”

The most recent meeting between the two teams came in the Las Vegas Bowl back in 2017. Boise State won that game by 10 points. Now, when they kickoff on Saturday night the Ducks will look to correct that record.