15 notable quotes from Dan Lanning as Ducks puts Georgia behind them, shift focus to Eastern Washington
That flight home from Atlanta to Eugene had to be a long one for the Oregon Ducks, but especially for head coach Dan Lanning.
After working all offseason to get his team prepared for the first game, and going up against his former team and mentor Kirby Smart, Lanning’s team didn’t show up. Instead, they got hosed, losing 49-3 in embarrassing fashion.
It’s time to move on, though, and Lanning and the Ducks are looking to do that this week with a much easier opponent — Eastern Washington — on the docket.
While there were still some topics to touch on from the past weekend, for the most part, Lanning looked ahead during his weekly press conference on Monday night. Here are some of the most notable quotes from the evening:
Opening Statement
Lanning: “Obviously got back to work today, started our prep on Eastern Washington really got to put to bed the Georgia game. Obviously disappointed with the result of the first game, a lot of stuff that we can improve and work on. But really proud of the fact that our guys attacked that today. You know, when we talk about taking our medicine, go to the doctor figure out what we can get better and every one of those guys really walked in that room today. And they weren’t finger pointers, they’re thumb pointers, what can they improve? Same with our coaching staff. Obviously that result, it starts with me. I said it after the game. We’ve got good players and we can play a lot better than we played. That being said, you can’t sit around and spend a lot of time looking in the past. You got to start working on the future and we’re about to play a really good opponent and Eastern Washington. Obviously. They’ve had a lot of success there over the years and we’re excited to get prepped and you get to work on them.”
Getting Back on the Field
Question: What is the excitement level for your players currently to get back on the field and show that they’re better than we saw on Saturday?
Lanning: “Our guys are anxious, you know, extremely anxious to get back to work. That being said, I think every one of our players acknowledged we need to work in between now and in the game. You know, we have our opponent right now, we have Eastern Washington on the schedule, but our opponent right now is Oregon and our guys went out there and worked their tails off today. Monday practice, we had a lot of corrections, went and hit those corrections first, got out there and got to work and I know they’re fired up to get back on the field again and prove they’re better than they played.”
Post-Game Process
Question: What is your post-game process like after a game like we saw on Saturday?
Lanning: “You have a process, it doesn’t change based on the result. I think the process has to be really consistent. You know for us we go back, we watch it with our players, you know but first we watch it with our staff. We do you know do a quality control write-up of every piece of that trip, you know including the way travel went, you know how the hotel was, the whole prep, we’re going to evaluate regardless of results. So it starts there. We got together and really broke that all down as a staff yesterday, all the things that we feel like are immediate attack pieces and then we started off this morning, really with a recap of the game followed by a corrections walk. We go back and walk through every single correction from the game. What we know we can make an immediate improvement on and we carry that over into the next opponent before we start that next practice.”
Coaching Corrections
Question: With a new staff, how do you think things went in general with some guys in the booth and others on the field? Were you able to make as many adjustments and help where you wanted it?
Lanning: “I think first game, you know, there’s some things that I think we walked away saying, ‘Hey, we could definitely do a lot more.’ I think we’ve tried to get the big picture of the game and you’re trying to be a part of offense, defense, special teams. It’s hard to be focused on on one side. I think I can definitely do more there and help but that being said, you know, there’s a lot more than just a call here or there that affected that game. I mean, we said game one was going to be decided based on takeaways, penalties and tackling. And I think if you look at that game, we had two takeaways, right? I think we were more penalized, right. And I know we missed more tackles right? We missed a lot of tackles and we didn’t break tackles as much on the other side of the ball. And I think that’s the result of that game. There’s certainly a lot of other things that we can do better. You know, the communication piece for us as an entire organization can certainly be improved.”
Bo Nix
Question: Where do you think Bo Nix can most improve going into Game 2?
Lanning: “You know, not turning the ball over, you know, obviously, that’s a big piece. That’s where it starts, operating within the framework of the offense. You don’t have to create new plays that aren’t there for you to make. You just have to take the ones that are sitting in front of you. I think when he did that, you know, we were effective at times on offense. When you operate outside the system, you know it’s gonna struggle at times. I think that’d be for anybody.”
A Georgia Surprise
Question: Did Georgia do anything on Saturday that really surprised you schematically?
Lanning: “I don’t know about surprised. You know, if you go back and you look at the game, you know, it wasn’t 40-yard, 50-yard explosive plays down the field. You know, they really did a great job of what we kind of said postgame on the perimeter. They were able to make successful completions for Stetson, and he operated that system really, really well in new areas going into ball. But a lot of those completions were early and then they went on the edge and we didn’t think yards after contact were a huge piece, which means we got to do a better job of tackling, we got to do a better job fundamentally. And that’s really where a lot of it starts. I think there are some ways that we can help our players by what we call, they can help that but I know for me personally, I’m self-reflecting on all the things that I can do better. And I think every player on our team, every coach is doing the exact same.”
Measuring Up
Question: How have you talked with your team about where you think they measure up against a team like Georgia who many predict to be in the mix for the College Football Playoff?
Lanning: “You know, I don’t know if I spend a lot of time really talking about them. I mean, I will say this I’ve been coaching for a while and I’ve been a part of losses that are disheartening that you’re really disappointed in and to me, it’s all about the response. Right? It’s all about there’s an event, how you respond to it, and that’s gonna lead you to your outcome. And I was a part of a situation last year where, SEC championship game, I walked off the field and I think a lot of us were really disheartened. Right. But that being said, how you respond and the effect of that response is what really leads to success down the road and Georgia is a complete team. I’ll be impressed if there are a lot of teams that are better than that team out there in college football right now. They’re certainly clicking on all cylinders. And I know talking to Coach Smart after the game, he reminded me of his first season when he was down 31-0 at halftime to Ole Miss in an away game and that’s a part of it, but that’s certainly not our goal. Our goal is to get better this week. Today. Next moment. You can’t live in the past but you’re also not putting in other teams you’re really looking at yourself and how you can improve.”
Positive Attidude
Question: You seemed to have a relatively positive attitude after the game when a lot of coaches would be outwardly frustrated. Do you have to consciously try to do that or is that just who you are?
Lanning: “I mean, nobody’s more frustrated than me. But I’m also more focused on outcome. And if I thought me acting, you know, angry and upset and frustrated was going to be a benefit to our team then that’s the approach I would take. I don’t think that’s a beneficial approach in that situation. You know, it starts with me, nobody’s more frustrated than I am. And I certainly wasn’t upbeat. That being said, we played a good team, they played really well and we didn’t. There’s a lot to fix. My approach is always gonna be on how do I think I get the best result from our players, and what do they need from me. Right as much as what do I need from them?”
Fixing the Blueprint
Question: A lot of your future opponents probably watch that film and now feel like they know how to beat you guys. What can you do to stop that from happening?
Lanning: “You recreate those exact same moments that happened in the game and you can try to recreate them in practice. And I think it’s really clear that practice wasn’t harder than the game was for us. The game was harder for us than practice. So we’re trying to figure out how we can create those moments where practices are harder than the game, and we hadn’t done that yet. So today we had bubble drill tomorrow we’ll have mod bracket drill, we’re going to add some elements where the balls are on the edge we gotta go win on the perimeter, strike disengaged blocks, be the difference or make blocks, right to create those explosive plays.”
Missed Tackles
Question: The missed tackles were a big problem but it seemed like it got better in the second half (…interrupted.)
Lanning: “We didn’t tackle well. We didn’t tackle well in the first half. We didn’t tackle well in the second half. I think pulling up the film today — Sorry, I didn’t mean to cut you off — but pulling up the film today I think our players said ‘yeah, I see what you mean.’ Right. And that’s the one thing I’m proud of is every one of these guys say ‘okay, yeah, we definitely get better at that.’ And we had players today reload reps and say ‘no, I need that again, coach. That wasn’t good enough. I didn’t do it to my standard.’ And to me, that’s when you’re going to have a chance to be successful is when the players are saying ‘no, I want to do that over with that wasn’t my standard’ because it’s really about their standards about our standard here at Oregon.”
Self-Improvement
Question: Where do you want to see yourself get better as a head coach after that game?
Lanning: “You know, overall just adaptability within the game. You know, I didn’t feel like we had enough answers you know within the game with the success they were having there on the perimeter early. I think you have to carry that. There’s always this, you know, this piece of volume versus execution. How much do you really want to carry from a defensive standpoint, from an offensive standpoint? We probably carried a little less volume going into game one. We probably need a little bit more than that, some answers for some of the stuff they were doing. So that’s certainly a piece I think walking in there with a call sheet that has some more answers for us. And understanding, just seeing some stuff and fixing it quicker. You know improving that communication from us as a coaching staff. You know, there’s always things you go back and you watch the film and say ‘Man, I wish it would have done a better job of that’ and I think we’ll carry that forward.”
Social Media Reactions
Question: There has been a lot of talk about you guys on social media. How do you address that with your guys after a tough loss?
Lanning: “The opinions of everyone else outside of our building really don’t matter. It’s about the opinions in the room. That truly counts. I’ve said it before, nobody else is going to be playing a game, we got to play the game. You know, it always gets loudest when it’s easiest and it’s really easy to be loud on social media today. You can’t put a lot of stock in that because they’re not gonna play the single game. Right we affect outcomes here. Right our coaches, our players, we affect outcomes, not outside noise. So you know they smile in your face, right? And we know what it’s gonna look like when it doesn’t go right. Right. The same things to be said when you win. You can’t put too much stock in social media. You can’t get your worth from those moments.”
Injury Updates
Question: Are there any injury updates after the game?
Lanning: “We’re a little dinged up you know, I mean, I know you guys know we didn’t get to play with Popo in this game, unfortunately. Looks like he’s gonna be — I hate it for him — you know he had a foot injury. It looks like he’s gonna be out for the season. So that’s, you know, a big loss for us. He’s going to be getting surgery, you know, hate to lose him because he’s worked so hard to get back from injury. That being said, really still looking to lean on his leadership and those pieces. Had some guys that were dinged up today. Don’t think it’s going to affect their ability to perform on Saturday. Outside of that were relatively healthy but certainly had some bumps and bruises coming out of that game.”
Saturday Improvement
Question: What exactly are you looking to see on Saturday that would be a success in your eyes other than a win?
Lanning: “Just execution. You know, I think that that goes on both sides of the ball, but we know they’re a really good opponent. We know they’re gonna air it out and throw you know, throw the ball over the yard offensively for them. They’ve had a lot of success. There’s some continuity you know, there with their head coach, but I want to see our guys go play fast. I want to walk away and you say ‘okay, that offense has an identity, that defense has an identity’ in that game. And again, Eastern’s an elite team, but we’re really focused on us. I want to see those DNA traits show up within that game for us.”
True Freshmen
Question: A total of 4 true freshmen got in the game against Georgia, what did you see from them after watching tape?
Lanning: “We always said that from the beginning if you’re good enough, you’re old enough, right? We want to be able to incorporate guys that can help us. You know, I think you saw some pre-game jitters. We saw a lot of, you know, we saw freshman mistakes. We saw that happen. But we also saw some guys that are resilient and tough and can play winning football for us but have to be developed over time. So moments of growth. Also some real moments of positivity and excitement.”
