EUGENE — Anyone outside Boise, Idaho or the Mountain West who was somehow unfamiliar with Ashton Jeanty got well acquainted with the All-America running back last week.

The Boise State running back had 20 carries for 267 yards and six touchdowns, both school records, to lead the Broncos past Georgia Southern. The Mountain West offensive player of the year last season, Jeanty is coming off a sophomore season with 1,347 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns, plus 569 receiving yards and five scores. He is the first FBS player since 2019 to top 1,000 and 500 in each respective statistic in the same season.

“I think he’s the best running back I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “He’s certainly an NFL guy, and he doesn’t go down on first contact ever. He’s one of the best stiff-arm guys that we’ve gone against. He runs really, really physical. And then, the next guy they brought in ran for 100 yards too. This is a really powerful rushing attack.”

No opposing running back Oregon has faced during Lanning’s tenure is as much of an all-around threat as Jeanty. The closest to Jeanty in terms of production that faced Oregon over the past two seasons are former UCLA running back Zach Charbonnet, who ran for 151 yards and a touchdown in a loss to UO in 2022, Cal’s Jaydn Ott and former Georgia running back Kenny McIntosh.

It’s going to be up to the Ducks’ defense, particularly the interior defensive line, to keep Jeanty from having a big performance against the best competition he’ll face during the regular season and further legitimizing his case for the Heisman.

“I feel like it’s like it’s a mission to stop him from doing that against us,” defensive tackle Derrick Harmon said. “As long as we stop him from running that ball, we can win the game, I feel like.”

Jeanty led the country with 106 missed tackles caused, 4.52 yards after contact per carry, 96 rushing first downs and was second in all-purpose yards (159.7). Holding onto the superstar this offseason was critical for Boise State, which billed Jeanty as a Heisman Trophy candidate ahead of the season, complete with a statistical highlights website and HEI2MAN merchandise.

“Ashton Jeanty is one the best players in the entire country, if not like I say, he is the best player in the entire country because he deserves it and he earns it,” Boise State coach Spencer Danielson said. “With that being said, we’re going to give Ashton Jeanty the ball in the run game, in the pass game, in the screen game, because he’s the best player in the country. From that, the stats and all the hype, he deserves it. … He’s a generational talent in regards to who he is as a young man. He is an even better person than he is as a football player.”

Harmon, who transferred from Michigan State this summer, had five tackles with two for loss in last week’s win over Idaho. The impact he can have in the run game and as a pass rusher make him crucial this week.

“He practices with relentless effort; that same thing showed up in the game,” Lanning said. “Did a good job with rush lanes and pushing the pocket, and then a good job on run. But he can create negatives for us.”

Nose tackle Jamaree Caldwell, who transferred to Oregon from Houston this winter, compared Jeanty’s ability to break contact to Oklahoma State All-American Ollie Gordon and his speed to former TCU running back Emani Bailey.

Caldwell understands his role to take on multiple blocks and plug two gaps at times will be “pretty major” this week.

“I think we need to be able to get as many plays as we possibly can out of him at a really high level, but he’s a disruptive player,” Lanning said,. “He ends up in the backfield a lot and will certainly be important in this game where we have to stop the run.”

Oregon was 11th in run defense last season, but did not fare as well against winning teams, particularly in the losses to Washington, and performed much worse on third down against winning teams (47.13%) than its overall season rate (35.79%).

Lanning attributed the disparity in performance to a combination of technique and scheme and feels the coaching staff identified some answers for more consistent results this fall. The first major test comes from Jeanty and a Boise State offense called by offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, who worked with Oregon defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi with the Atlanta Falcons in 2020.

“Dirk has been a really successful coach for a long time and he has basically every bag of tricks or every play that you can have in your repertoire, he has it,” Lanning said. “But having some familiarity with each other, I think, certainly helps. But it goes both directions when it comes to that. … Their offense does a lot of good things to scheme you up and they have complements off of each play.

“So a great stretch play is going to have a great boot play action off of it as well. So they hold you accountable. They make you tackle. They’re going to make (defensive backs) tackle. They do a really good job of that. And the back certainly is a big piece of their success.”