Oregon needed all of Dante Moore’s career-best passing game to hold off Boise State on Saturday.Moore passed for 378 yards and three touchdowns as the second-ranked Ducks beat the Broncos 34-27 to avoid the first loss to an unranked team under fifth-year coach Dan Lanning.Moore bypassed a chance to be maybe the No. 2 pick in the last NFL Draft to return to Oregon and try to lead the Ducks to their first national title. The Ducks entered the season with their best preseason ranking ever, coming off of two straight College Football Playoff appearances.
"We won the game, it starts there. There's a lot to fix, there's a lot to clean up."
Dan Lanning joins @JennyDell_ after Oregon's win. pic.twitter.com/8MgLzZWMAW
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) September 5, 2026The 24-point underdog Broncos, playing their first game as a member of the new Pac-12, gave Oregon all it could handle. Boise State jumped out to a 17-7 lead and led by 3 at the half in a game reminiscent of its last trip to Eugene, Ore. The Ducks needed a walk-off field goal to beat Ashton Jeanty and the Broncos 37-34 in 2024.Jeanty is gone, but quarterback Maddux Madsen, who led the 2024 Boise State team to the Playoff, was back and leading the Broncos. Madsen threw three touchdown passes, none more important than a 7-yarder to diving tight end Matt Wagner to convert a fourth-and-3 late in the third quarter and tie the game at 24.Moore, who was 28-of-37 passing for the game, hooked up with Dakorien Moore for a 62-yard touchdown with 7:51 left in the fourth quarter that put the Ducks up 34-27.The Ducks had a chance to ice the game with a long drive, but could only manage one first down before punting it back to Boise State with 2:24 left. Madsen and the Broncos took over at their own 14 with two timeouts.On fourth-and-10 from Boise State’s 31, Madsen, who took a hard shot to the elbow a play earlier from Wyatt Nasir’s clubbed hand, couldn’t connect with a well-covered receiver and the Ducks survived.
