11 notable quotes from Dan Lanning as No. 9 Oregon gets set to host No. 10 UCLA
After enjoying the bye week and getting a chance to sit back and watch the chaos take place in both the Pac-12 and college football world at large, the No. 9 Oregon Ducks are getting ready for arguably the biggest game of the year.
The No. 10 UCLA Bruins are coming to town, and with them comes ESPN’s “College GameDay” for this top-10 matchup, a thing that has become a rarity in the Pac-12 over the years.
While the Ducks will undoubtedly focus on themselves this week as they have the entire season, there is a lot about the Bruins that will challenge them. To get a preview of those things, media members were able to talk to head coach Dan Lanning on Monday night and get a feeling for how the matchup is shaping up.
Here are some of the most notable quotes from that press conference:
Opening Statement
Lanning: “About to be a fun one. Really exciting, obviously it’s gonna be a great atmosphere for our players, but also our fans. I know me and including everybody else in our organization am really excited to see our fans come out in full support. I mean obviously having “College GameDay” here is going to be a great event. (We) get the opportunity to go against a top-10 team and a really worthy opponent. It’s going be a fun challenge for us and our players. I talked about our guys really early on the day and that all this is here because of the work they’ve done. And that’s why this is sitting in front of them but really all this outside has nothing to do with what has to be done on the field. And I think our guys realize that and are excited about the opportunity. Definitely excited to see our fans show up early and stay throughout the entire game, stay late, and enjoy the entire event of Saturday and go play this game.”
Bye Week
Question: How do you feel like the team did as far as growing during the bye week?
Lanning: “I thought they did a great job. You know, really, each day we had some individual improvement plans that each one of our guys attacked. Got some great recovery and some great work in throughout the process as well. Had some really productive practices. Have been around a lot of teams during bye week and not every team gets better during by week. I thought our team got better.”
Dorian Thompson-Robinson
Question: How do you think Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s fifth year of experience has given him an edge?
Lanning: “He’s really familiar with their system. He’s completing the ball at a really high rate right now; he’s operating their offense. Obviously, he’s a weapon with his legs. He understands what they’re trying to accomplish. I think it’s a lot of the same things you see right now with our quarterback. Understanding what’s supposed to be accomplished on the field and executes at a high level and he’s certainly doing that. He’s a dynamic player. Anytime he touches the ball can turn into an explosive play. So that’s showing up for them.”
Chip Kelly Returns
Question: With Chip Kelly knowing Eugene so well and the environment at Autzen, how does that factor into your game planning?
Lanning: “The environment, the noise, the fans, all those pieces are great elements, but none of those things are playing the game. So none of that’s really going to have a factor. Playing here before, that can be a factor in this game. He’s got great experience in this place. I’m sure he has some fond memories in this place. But none of that’s really going to carry into what actually has to happen from an execution standpoint on the field.”
Two Great Offenses
Question: What type of similarities do you see in both Oregon and UCLA’s offenses?
Lanning: I think it’s good to go against a great offense every day in practice. Obviously, this is a great offense. And, sometimes you speak about great offensive nowadays, they don’t run the ball. This is a team that runs the ball, they run the ball really well. They’ll scheme runs where they’ll gain extra hats based off pullers and leverage and numbers counts. That’s something they do a good job of. It’s (UCLA’s offense) not just fast real fast, they mix them the tempo so certainly have a sense going against that each day against our offense, but it’s not necessarily the same. There are some slight differences.”
Stopping the Run
Question: What are some keys for your defense to slow UCLA’s running game?
Lanning: “The element of the quarterback run game, I think it’s a big piece in this game that we’ll see. You always have to have a hat accounted for him in this. Our defense has done a good job at times with the run, we need to do better at times with the pass obviously. But, ultimately, it’s about preventing explosive plays. You pull up explosive plays given up this year and created this year, what’s unique is both UCLA and us are, I think a plus 31 ratio right when it comes to explosive plays. And that’s a really big indicator of wins and losses. But look at the top of our conference, I think maybe Washington is the only team that has more explosive plays created than UCLA and Oregon. When you look at those given up and those created that’s a really big factor in this game. I think the team that walks away with giving up less of explosive plays and creating more is gonna have a great advantage.”
Byron Cardwell
Question: Do you have a health update on the team, specifically on Byron Cardwell?
Lanning: “It’s definitely it’s a benefit for us to have some opportunities to get guys back and get guys healthy. Byron’s a guy that’s worked extremely hard. And at some point, it’s about him feeling comfortable with himself being able to step back out there in the field. You know, we support him in every way from a medical standpoint and our coaching staff. He’s a great kid. He does everything the right way. And once he feels like he can get out there and compete for us, we welcome him there to be able to see him on the field for us.”
DTR and the rest
Question: What makes DTR stand apart from the other mobile QBs that you’ve played?
Lanning: “We really haven’t played anybody quite like him, in my opinion. He runs like a backer or wideout with the ball. So, like I said, he can stop and go, he’s got great acceleration and speed, does a good job of the ball in his hands. For a team that runs the quarterback as much as they do they take care of the ball. So we do have to do a good job of attacking when we get the opportunity and making sure that we’re in the position to tackle.”
Potent Offense
Question: How have you been able to keep the offense productive at such a high rate this season?
Lanning: “Keep the main thing, the main thing. The preps the exact same each week. You look to evaluate what you’re doing really well and what you can improve on and then what stresses the other team that you’re about to play. And I think our offensive staff has done a really good job of finding the elements that fit. Our goal has never been just about how many plays we can run. It’s about how many points we can score and how many games we can win and starting with games we can win. So it’s always a benefit when you can change the tempo. I think that makes it tough on a defense and our offense has done a good job being able to change it up.”
GameDay Distractions
Question: How do you keep this team grounded and focused amidst all of the “College GameDay” distractions?
Lanning: “It’s no different than when I was a high school coach and we talked about homecoming. It’s just another thing to everybody else. But the reality is, there’s a game to be played, and they’re here to watch the game. And the things we can control are on that 53 1/3 field, that 120-yard field. That’s where that game has to be played. And it’s (atmosphere) there because of an environment that we’ve created. It’s there because of the way we played at this point. But that’s all it is. It’s about how you’ve done it. It has nothing to do with the outside noise so we’ll do a great job our guys understand that. Put it in a frame of reference, obviously this game’s fun for a lot of reasons. You know, we get to go out there and fight for a great cause as well with the Breast Cancer Awareness jerseys and there’s so many other elements, but the reality is we have game to play. And that’s what our guys are focused on.”
Steven Jones and Bryan Addison
Question: Do you have any updates on Steven Jones and Bryan Addison?
Lanning: “Steven’s still working through some things. Doing more today than he then has. I think Bryan will be available and ready to roll.”
