2-0.

As fans learned last week, stats can be deceiving. Any recap of No. 7 Oregon’s 37-34 win over Boise State — this one included — will be littered with stats that tell varying stories of the chaos that took place Saturday night at Autzen Stadium. But one stat sits above all.

The Ducks’ record: 2-0.

Oregon has won its first two games of the season for the second-straight season after a nailbiter against the Broncos. As the stats will show, the game was up and down and back-and-forth, but in the end, only one team emerged 2-0.

“We like sweating around here apparently,” Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said to open his postgame press conference. 

Long before Atticus Sappington walked-off the Broncos (1-1) with a 25-yard field goal, the Ducks’ second win of the season was in serious doubt.

The main concerns stemmed from the game consisting of two completely different offensive lines. Boise State’s line paved the way for Ashton Jeanty to rack up 192 yards and three touchdowns on 25 attempts. The Ducks’ line, meanwhile, relented four sacks and was primarily responsible for Oregon’s 74 penalty yards. The line underwent consistent reconstruction and personnel shifts throughout the final three quarters of Saturday’s contest. 

“We’ll watch the film and evaluate and figure out who our best five or six or seven, whoever that might be, that can play winning football for us,” Lanning said of his offensive line. 

Boise State hit the ground running, tallying 29 ground yards on their opening drive that resulted in a 42-yard field goal. 

The Ducks’ offense, meanwhile, took its time getting going. They gained just 12 yards across their first two drives, and quarterback Dillon Gabriel faced significant pressure early. 

On the first play of the Ducks’ third possession, however, Gabriel found Evan Stewart for a 67-yard completion to set up a Gabriel touchdown run. Oregon took a 7-3 lead with 4:36 remaining in the first quarter. 

But it was a lead not meant to last. The Broncos wasted little time stringing together another scoring drive on the back of Jeanty. He found the endzone early in the second quarter for his seventh touchdown of the season, and he’d finish the game with 10 on the year.

Another snap play gave Oregon a one-play, 34-yard touchdown drive on another strike from Gabriel to Stewart. When Gabriel wasn’t running for his life, he was able to string together a respectable performance of 18-21 for 243 yards and a pair of touchdowns – numbers that could have been more than enough had it not been for foreshadowed blunders.

The Broncos marched right down the field at the end of the second quarter and a last-ditch effort by the Oregon defense made them settle for a 20-yard field goal. BSU took a 20-14 lead into the break. 

“[Though] just watching the plays we were giving up, we tried to assess what defensive developments we felt like could defend those plays,” Lanning said.

Another big play bailed the Ducks out of a 3rd-and-long situation on their opening drive of the second half. Gabriel found Traeshon Holden for a 59-yard catch-and-run touchdown. The extra point, however, was missed and the game was tied. 

That’s about when the madness began. Oregon forced a BSU punt and Tez Johnson returned it 85 yards for a score to put the Ducks ahead. A bigtime, explosive play gave Oregon — and Autzen Stadium — the spark it needed.

“I told myself when I walked out there ‘Imma be aggressive’,” Johnson said. “As soon as I caught the ball, I was like ‘here we go’”.

The Ducks finally had momentum, but Boise State wasn’t done making noise. 

With a chance to take a two-score lead in the fourth quarter, the Ducks did the unthinkable. Patrick Herbert fumbled and one play later — courtesy of Jeanty again — the Broncos had tied the game. A complete 180 in momentum brought the blue corner of Autzen Stadium to life again and the sense of dread back to the stomachs of Oregon fans.  Two offensive plays later, Gabriel fumbled — his second in as many games — to give the Broncos the ball in the redzone. They immediately cashed in the opportunity and took a 34-27 lead on Jeanty’s third score of the game. 

That set up potentially the craziest play of the game. Noah Whittingon took the ensuing kickoff 100 yards for a score… or so everyone thought. As it turned out, he dropped the ball prior to crossing the goal line. Fortuitously for Oregon, Jayden Limar picked up the ball and took it the remaining yard, and the touchdown stood. 

“When you have dynamic returners like that, it can make things really special for you,” Lanning said. 

The game was tied, and — after a timely defensive stop — Sappington’s kick would later win it.

 2-0.

Oregon’s now won its first two games by a combined 13 points against teams it was favored over by a combined 69.5 points. Still, the Ducks earned their first ever win over Boise State, pushing the all-time series to 3-1 in favor of the Broncos. 

But the “trap game” concept almost became reality. Oregon accumulated fewer total yards (352 to 369), first downs (16 to 19), total plays (57 to 73), tackles for loss (4 to 7) and sacks (1 to 4), but tallied more points, the deciding factor in starting the season with back-to-back wins.

Ugly wins are still wins. Defensive end Jordan Burch admitted his squad has a lot to work on, but the Ducks will enter their Week 3 matchup against Oregon State 2-0.