Whether it was in front of a furious home crowd in Eugene, during an infamous night on the blue turf in Boise, or at a neutral field in the Nevada desert, there have been a couple common themes in the history of football games played between Oregon and Boise State — bitter losses for the Ducks and bad memories for their fans.

No. 6 Oregon (1-0) will get a chance to end its 0-3 streak against the Broncos (1-0) at 7 p.m. Saturday in Autzen Stadium.

It will be Boise State’s first visit to Eugene since 2008, when freshman quarterback Kellen Moore led the Broncos to an upset victory in a game marred by cheap shots from the Boise State defense, including one penalized hit that knocked Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli out of the game in the first quarter.

It will also be the first game between the teams since Boise State manhandled the Ducks in the 2017 Las Vegas Bowl.

But neither of those games have anything on the 2009 season opener in Boise, when Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount delivered a postgame right jab to Broncos’ defensive lineman Byron Hout that rocked the college football world.

It’s been 15 years since “The Punch” — a reaction by Blount to what he said was taunting and a racial slur directed at him from a helmetless Hout on the field after the game — but the bad feelings between the two teams actually began a year earlier in Eugene.

Cheap shots mar 2008 Oregon-Boise State game

Oregon was 3-0 heading into the game and ranked No. 17 in the country. The Ducks were also down to the their third-string QB after projected starter Nate Costa suffered a season-ending injury in fall camp and Justin Roper was hurt a week before the Boise State game during the Ducks’ 29-26 overtime win at Purdue.

In stepped Masoli for his first start at Oregon. He didn’t play long.

His first pass attempt was an 11-yard completion to Jaison Williams, after which Masoli was leveled by a helmet-to-helmet hit delivered by safety Ellis Powers, who launched himself into Masoli well after the ball was released. Ellis was flagged for roughing the passer, though Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said after the game that Ellis should’ve been ejected.

That’s what happened to Boise State linebacker Jeron Johnson in the fourth quarter after he flattened tight end Ed Dickson, who was running across the middle of the field.

Johnson was penalized for targeting a defenseless player and removed from the game.

Masoli would play the rest of the first quarter but was eventually removed. He watched the second half in street clothes.

Down to their fourth- and fifth-string quarterbacks, Oregon went on to lose 37-32. Moore diced up the Ducks’ defense as he threw for 386 yards and three TDs.

Mayhem in Boise for 2009 Oregon game

The 2008 game was certainly on Blount’s mind when he told Sports Illustrated in the lead up to the season opener in 2009 that the Ducks owed the Broncos an “ass whooping.”

Oregon couldn’t deliver.

With a packed and raucous crowd behind them and a Thursday night national TV audience watching, the No. 14 Broncos beat the No. 16 Ducks 19-8 in what was Chip Kelly’s first game as head coach at Oregon.

The Ducks trailed 19-0 late into the third quarter before finally scoring. The offense was held to 152 yards — the fewest in 15 years — and six first downs, though none in the first half.

Blount, who had rushed for 99 yards and a TD a year earlier against the Broncos, was stuffed for a net of negative-5 yards on eight carries.

When the game was over, both sidelines emptied onto the field. What happened next is still contested.

In a 2022 interview with former NFL player LaVar Arrington, Blount said Hout yelled at him referencing the “ass whooping” comment and called him a racial slur.

"I hear this guy talking to me saying, 'Hey? How bout that ass-whoopin'? You said you were gonna beat our ass.' I'm hearing him now and I can't say nothin'. I gotta take that." Blount said. "I just keep on walking. He gets closer and closer to me and slaps my shoulder pad saying, 'How bout that ass-whoopin?' and then the N-word."

In a 2017 interview with The New York Times, Hout denied any aspect of a racial component occurred during the exchange.

“People are going to say what they want to say and believe what they want to believe,” Hout said. “I know the truth and I’m going to live my life in truth always. People can speculate, and all I can do is hope that the people who know me know that there’s no way I could possibly have said a racial slur there.”

Nearby was Boise State coach Chris Petersen, who immediately tried to intervene, but not before Blount dropped Hout with a punch to his right jaw.

It was a few minutes of mayhem after that as players and coaches from both teams defused the situation. Blount then had to be restrained from going after a group of fans in the stands by Oregon assistant Scott Frost, who was able to forcefully get the player into the Ducks’ locker room.

“I just apologize to anyone watching that,” Blount said afterward. “I just apologize to all of our fans and all of Boise’s fans. That’s something I shouldn't have done. I lost my head.”

In the days that followed Blount was suspended for the season, though he did return late in the year to play again.

Oregon gets no revenge vs. Boise State in 2017 Las Vegas Bowl

Blount’s punch was still a topic of conversation leading into the Ducks’ postseason game against the Broncos in 2017.

Boise State coach Brian Harsin, who was the Broncos’ offensive coordinator in 2008 and 2009, admitted he talked about it with his team before heading to Las Vegas.

“We didn’t go into the whole story behind it,” Harsin told The Oregonian in 2017. “They all know, it’s not something they haven’t seen, but be aware it’s going to be addressed. That’s long gone, this is a completely different group of guys and team, but it is part of the history between the two teams so I’m sure there’s mentions of it from both sides.”

It didn’t matter in the end, as the Broncos did to the Ducks the same thing they did in the previous two games.

Oregon trailed 24-0 in the first half of Mario Cristobal’s debut as the Ducks head coach, as he replaced Willie Taggart, who had departed for Florida State a few weeks earlier.

A pair of defensive touchdowns by Oregon in the second quarter made it 24-14 at halftime, but the Ducks could never get closer than 10 points in the eventual 38-28 loss.

Chris Hansen covers University of Oregon football, men’s basketball, track and field, cross country and softball for The Register-Guard. You can reach him at chansen@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @chansen_RG.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon football, Boise State's bitter history: A look back