Dan Lanning’s most notable quotes after 36-33 loss at Washington
No coach wants to answer the tough questions, especially after such a heartbreaking loss to a bitter rival.
But to Dan Lanning’s credit, he sat there and answered every question asked of him after Oregon fell 36-33 to Washington on Saturday. It had to be extra hard on the second-year coach with some of his decisions could be directly be related to his team’s downfall.
Lanning expressed praise to the opponent but also took it upon himself to say he was solely to blame for the Ducks’ first loss of the season. There were some choices he would rather have back and one can only hope Lanning learns from these mistakes because Oregon will find itself in similar spots down the road this season as the schedule remains difficult going forward.
Opening Statement
Lanning: “Tough battle there. Some guys hurtin’ in that locker room, they really wanted that one. And, you know at the end of the day, they made a couple more plays than than we made. You know, some decisions we probably could have made differently with throughout that game. I thought our guys battled to the end. I thought they showed some resiliency being down 11 and then coming back and pulling ahead. But you know tough finish. It’s a really good team, credit to them. They did, they created some explosive plays we felt we were gonna be able take away. Their quarterbacks tough we were able to get some hits on him but he still completed passes and they deserve to win with the way they played down the stretch and how they finished.”
Fourth Down Decisions
Question: The two fourth down calls inside the 10 … why were those the calls?
Lanning: “We felt that was an opportunity for us to get a touchdown and a touchdown changes the game. And obviously, we’re probably not talking about it if we get a touchdown. That being said, you know, the one for half is one where you really can go back and say let’s take that field goal. And it’s something I’m going to assess, go evaluate for me, and we checked to see if we liked the look. We liked the look before we ran the play. We had a timeout if we didn’t like the look. We liked the look, and we just didn’t execute.”
Bridges Filling the Void
Question: Your thoughts on Twikweze Bridges’ performance filling in for the injured Jahlil Florence?
Lanning: “We talked about strength in numbers a lot, and I thought some guys, there were several guys that stepped up. We got banged up a little bit there throughout the game and we had your guys had to come in with limited reps and go out there and perform and Trikweze was one of them that fought and battled till the very end.”
THE Decision with 2 minutes
Question: With 2:11 left, why go for it instead of punting?
Lanning: “Yeah, we felt like our defense was playing well and then felt like we had an offensive play that was going to be successful. They covered it well, but at that point, you know, they’ve proven to be an explosive offense regardless of where they get the ball. Whether it’s going the length, obviously they went there twice in 33 seconds, they were able to score. We gave ourselves the ball back with plenty of time to go score again. We know that that honey hole for us is really a minute, 40 seconds to a minute 20. We got it back with an opportunity to go score kind of in that window. But that being said, you know, it didn’t work so obviously, it’ll be second-guessed.”
Nix's Day
Question: Your thoughts on Bo Nix’s performance?
Lanning: “Bo’s, he’s just a warrior, guys a warrior. I mean, he battles every single time we step on the field I thought he battled today. I thought he made some elite plays. At times he did some things with his legs that he hasn’t had to do this season. He did really well. Really proud of his performance. I know there’s a couple plays that he wants to have back. But I’ll go to war with that guy any day.”
Defensive Adjustments
Question: The defense did well until that final drive. What were some of the things you changed defensively?
Lanning: “We just talked through some adjustments that we weren’t executing properly. We made a couple of different calls. Ultimately, they were connecting on some quick passing game. They were able to take advantage of us in some of the run game. We changed some of our fits there at halftime and we’re able to handle them a little bit better with those adjustments and just didn’t finish it off there at the end.”
Being Aggressive
Question: What is it about you as a coach that makes you so aggressive on fourth down and when it doesn’t work, does that make you rethink your philosophy?
Lanning: “I think I’ll always go back and evaluate myself right and say, ‘Okay, what can I do different?’ You know, that being said from a probability standpoint, how we felt about looks that we were getting, we felt like we had a chance to have success and both situations really are, all the situations today where we went for it on fourth, we had an opportunity to call timeout if we didn’t like what we saw. There was some confusion on the last play that was handed off. We actually had a check that didn’t get checked or executed properly. So didn’t get that mastered but I’ll certainly go back and evaluate myself, and it’s about adapting. The game is about adapting and figuring out where you can be better. You take one of those field goals early on and we are looking at probably a little bit different situation.”
Building Up Camden
Question: What’s your conversation like with Camden Lewis after missing that field goal?
Lanning: “Camden’s a winner. I trust Camden, I love Camden. You know, that game never should have come down to that. It shouldn’t have came down to that. And, you know, ultimately, that happens. It’s a high-pressure situation. It’s tough on a kicker, but he shouldn’t wear the blame on this. He certainly has a job to do when he steps on the field. We’ve all seen Cam make that kick a million times. Right? He didn’t make it today. But again, a good team, and if we do the things that we can do, we might get an opportunity to face those guys again.”
Team Psyche
Question: What’s the psyche of the team right now?
Lanning: “Our guys are hungry to get out there and get to go perform again. And we’re going to be playing a lot of top 25 opponents the rest of the season. And it’s a great thing about this schedule that we have. We got tested. I think we’re gonna learn a lot of things about our team throughout this week. I think we have phenomenal leadership on this team. We have guys that aren’t going to quit and they’re gonna come to work and we’re gonna go attack it.”
Fate and Destiny
Question: With the margins so thin in the Pac-12, what does it feel like to not control your own destiny?
Lanning: “Well, I think if we take care of business on the rest of our wins, our destiny, we absolutely control our destiny. If we win out, then we’re going to put ourselves in a situation to build play for exactly what we think we should play for.”
Penix
Question: What did you think of Penix’s performance?
Lanning: “Yeah, he’s a great player. I mean, he showed today and like I said he took some big hits and was still able to get up and perform. You know, he utilizes his weapons well. He does a really good job and it was fun seeing both those guys battle today. It was an epic game from that standpoint.”
More on the midfield choice
Question: How much of a difference of the probability of punting it on that fourth-and-three compared to going for it?
Lanning: “There’s a difference, right? And we played to the differences. Again, I think we can all look back now and say, ‘Hey, you should have punted, right?’ If you get the fourth down, the game’s over. We capitalize and finish the game. So they’re an explosive offense. We don’t necessarily know if there’s a big difference in them from 75 compared to 50 yards with the ability they have to be able to put the ball down the field or stretch the field. We felt like it was more more advantageous to be able to close the game out. Again, going back, you don’t want to take the negative play on third down. You want to be able to hit you know, push it vertical and get the first down on third and one.”
