Oregon drops in the rankings for a second straight week, despite securing its second straight win to begin the year.

“You have to start with the ‘W,’” head coach Dan Lanning said after Atticus Sappington’s game-winning kick versus Boise State on Saturday. Lanning kept things honest postgame, emphasizing the importance of the win and restating that the Ducks would be back to work.

So what exactly will the Ducks be working on? What can we take away from how the Ducks have played in 2024 so far? A clear problem is consistency. The team as a whole struggled to stack productive drives together. The explosive plays mysteriously missing from Oregon’s Week 1 were present Saturday night, but a first half full of punts and two costly fumbles late make it hard to feel confident in the Ducks offense. One player whom the Ducks relied heavily on for those explosive plays was Evan Stewart. After a quiet first week, Stewart led the team in receiving, including a touchdown and a 67-yard catch and run to set up Dillon Gabriel’s rushing touchdown.

While Stewart was a bright spot in the receiving game, Gabriel’s misses on a pair of big throws in the early fourth quarter helped demonstrate how lots of this young season has felt. Oregon looks great for a stretch, then finds itself in its own way again.

The defense had a similarly up-and-down performance. Doing their best to limit Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty, the Broncos running back put up nearly 200 yards and three touchdowns, one coming on a 70-yard breakaway. Jeanty, who has had the NFL hype piled on him in back-to-back weeks, seemed to be the most valuable player on the field Saturday. A week ago against Idaho, the Ducks' defense performed well, but could not rely on turnovers against Boise State’s ground heavy attack.

The offense undeniably did enough to earn the win, as proven in crunch time with Oregon driving down before the winning kick. However, in a game where Oregon was a -20 favorite, coming down to the wire was hardly encouraging to see. The defense taking repetitive counterpunches from Boise State also raises doubts about the caliber Oregon can consistently play at. Both weeks against the Idaho teams have obviously had their moments, but have also had numerous mistakes and warning signs for the season.

The most glaring flaw for Oregon, at least compared to its 2022-23 teams, is the offensive line. Against teams not nationally known for their pass rush, the Ducks have already topped their sack total from a year ago. The running game Oregon heavily featured was sluggish in the early going against Boise State, averaging just a yard per carry at the half once the sacks were accounted for.

“When you look at the rushing total, and there’s some negatives in that that were created,” Lanning said. “But I thought Jordan [James] ran it well.”

Oregon, even at home in its first two games of the year, has had to fight on the line of scrimmage. With regular penalties on offense as well, the attack hardly seemed to be in rhythm, which is an ongoing theme for stretches on Saturday. With James being a steady force late in the game, maybe the Ducks found some quick fixes on the fly.

So, an inconsistent team with an unstable offensive line is not a recipe for success. Leadership on the Ducks, however, seems aware and prepared to continue fashioning a great team out of one with lots of new pieces. With two wins under their belt, Oregon has granted itself room to learn as it goes, but narrowly escaping Boise State at home can either be taken as a massive vote of confidence for the Broncos, or as an unfortunate sign of things to come for the Ducks. Dillon Gabriel put it simply, saying that the Ducks need to “clean **** up”.

It's been some good and some bad at a time in the season when a lot of Oregon fans expected all good. After all, that had been the norm for most other teams in the top 10 to start the season, but looking ahead on the Ducks’ schedule, the opponents will only get more experienced and highly touted as the fall continues. Even the next few matchups for Oregon, in Oregon State, UCLA, and Michigan State, could be imposing given how they have played in these first two weeks.

Ducks senior wideout Tez Johnson, who returned a punt for a touchdown in one of the upswings Saturday night at Autzen, described the upcoming week as “going to the doctor,” and it seems that is exactly what Oregon needs to do. The wins all count the same, but for an Oregon team that foresaw lots of winning in their future, the quality of those wins will certainly be closely watched.