Keys to Victory for Oregon Football vs Boise State

Given the sloppy, sluggish performance Oregon Football put up against Idaho last weekend, this weekend’s matchup against the Boise State Broncos has newfound intrigue.

If you asked me what Oregon needed to do to beat Boise State a couple of weeks ago, I would’ve told you it would be a relatively simple matchup that more or less just required the Ducks to show up.

Unfortunately, that’s not a luxury Oregon fans have anymore.

Today I’ll outline a few aspects of this weekend’s game that I think will be essential for the Ducks to avoid an upset loss and help put last weekend’s performance behind them.

Start hot:

Boise State, as many fans have recently learned, is a team very much spearheaded by running the ball with running back Ashton Jeanty.

On the flip side, this team has not shown much ability to pass the ball dynamically, leading to something of a one-headed snake approach.

With this in mind, Oregon jumping out to an early lead of two possessions or more will make it extremely hard for Boise State to rally back for a win.

Putting the Broncos in situations where they need to conserve clock will be Oregon’s best insurance against another monster performance from Jeanty.

Contain explosive passes:

With the idea in mind of grabbing an early lead and putting pressure on Boise State to pass, not allowing explosive, quick-strike plays in the air will be critical for maintaining a lead that prevents the Broncos from being able to pound the rock in the run game.

Plays like Idaho’s flea flicker touchdown last week would give the Broncos a more even game script in which they could afford to drain clock in the run game.

This doesn’t mean Oregon’s secondary has to completely blank quarterback Maddux Madsen the entire game, just enough to where Boise State’s drives take time and don’t result in easy, long touchdowns.

Given the Ducks’ performance in the secondary against Idaho, I think this is an attainable objective that will make a big difference in keeping this game from being as close as last week’s, or worse.

Establish the run:

It’s entirely possible that what we saw Saturday was actually an indication of what Oregon’s offense will look like this season.

If it’s going to be the case that the Ducks make a living on what essentially amounts to an air raid approach, having some threat of a run game will go a long way towards freeing up targets for Dillon Gabriel.

As Oregon’s staff is well aware, not enough was done on this front Saturday which led to more passing attempts for Gabriel than I’m guessing they planned on.

Getting Jordan James and Noah Whittington a few nice gains throughout the game will keep Boise State’s defense honest and prevent them from teeing off with their pass rush like Idaho was able to do this weekend.

This isn’t to say I think James and Whittington both need to break 100 yards or anything like that, but a reasonably efficient ground game would work wonders for the balance of this offense.

I’m not as concerned about what we saw Saturday as most Oregon fans, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t reason for skepticism.

No team is immune to bad performances and one against Boise State this weekend could put the Ducks in the territory of a loss.

This would more or less derail the season and kill Oregon fans’ hopes of a deep playoff run.

I think the Ducks will bounce back and put forth a much better effort than they did against Idaho.