Dan Lanning talks Pac-12 Championship, Heisman, and revenge opportunity vs. Washington
Ever since the afternoon of October 14th, when Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks walked off of the field in Seattle with their first loss of the season, they’ve looked forward to this opportunity.
They knew that there was a lot of work that needed to be done in order to get here, but everyone inside that program had confidence that they were capable of reaching the destination. Now they’re here, and ready to get their revenge.
The No. 5 Ducks face the No. 3 Washington Huskies in the Pac-12 Championship Game on Friday night in Las Vegas, with the winner going on to grab a spot in the College Football Playoff. The stakes couldn’t be higher, especially for QB Bo Nix, who will likely win the Heisman Trophy with a victory as well.
On Monday night, Dan Lanning met with media members for the only time this week to preview the upcoming rematch and detail what they are focused on going into the championship game.
Here are some of the most notable quotes from that press conference:
Opening Statement
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Lanning: “Coming off of a fun one this past weekend, obviously it was fun to see our players get out there and play you know, extremely well in fun environment. Autzen Stadium was unbelievable and expecting some of the same things for our volleyball team this week as they host a big tournament. So, we can open it up excited to go play this game Friday.”
Washington Part 1
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Question: What stands out the most about the first game against Washington this year and how you’d like to change things going forward?
Lanning: “Yeah, I mean we didn’t finish. We didn’t win the game last time. So that’s the kind of thing that sticks with you. But you know, our coaches have been working extremely hard as soon as our game was over as far as getting prep and so have our players. So we’ve had some really good days of practice here so far. Excited for another good day tomorrow.”
Michael Penix Jr.
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Question: The stats have fallen off a little bit for Michael Penix Jr. since you guys played them, have you seen anything different in his play that would lead to that?
Lanning: “He’s still won every single game. And maybe he hasn’t had some of the stats that he’s had early in the season, but he’s obviously a really talented quarterback, a really good quarterback. So, you know, it’s late in the season. Everybody gets a little bit banged up. I don’t know. But to me, he’s still playing really elite football.”
Locker Room Energy
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Question: What is the energy like in the locker room this week? Do you ever have to worry about tempering the energy when the stakes are this high?
Lanning: “No, we’ve got great energy. I don’t think it’s really my job to necessarily temper the energy, but more so make sure that we maintain the focus on where it needs to be. And our guys have done a great job of that. They realize that energy doesn’t win games execution does.”
Generating Pressure
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Question: How important will it be to pressure Penix in this game?
Lanning: “I think it’s just as important that rush and coverage work together. We were able to get some hits on him. At the same time, he was able to complete some passes when we were able to get hits on him. So it’s really important that it’s you know, it’s a combination, you know, you want to have great rush. You want to be able to get to the quarterback which very few people have been able to do, but also do a good job of matching routes and patterns in the back end.”
Motivational Tactics
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Question: We saw your motivational tactics at work this past week, do you have anything in store for the guys this week?
Lanning: “Yeah, I mean, we always have you know, a plan for ways that we’re going to motivate our players. But also this one doesn’t require a lot of extra motivation.”
Bo Nix
Question: What has allowed Bo to thrive so much more in the passing game over the last few weeks?
Lanning: “I think Bo’s always had that ability. He’s playing at an extremely high level. And you’re everybody’s seen it right now and you talk about the caliber player he is, he’s gotten better and better every single week of the season. Right, and you can’t go back to a game back. Okay, well, he played a little bit better, but he’s literally played consistent the entire season. He’s been playing at a really really high level the entirety of the season, and he’s playing as good as anybody in the nation right now, it’s really apparent.”
2021 Georgia vs. Alabama
Question: In 2021 with Georgia, you lost to Alabama in the SEC Championship before beating them in the national championship. Do you pull from that experience at all when it comes to preparing from a team for a second time?
Lanning: “Yeah, absolutely. I think you pull experience from every experience you’ve had in your life, but that’s certainly one that you know, is similar in a standpoint of, you’re gonna play the game. And every time you go out there and play the game, there’s an opportunity for it to go one way or another. And we’re certainly going to use the first game as a place to look at where we could have improved and attack a lot of those places and then try to figure out where their strengths are, where we can attack those as well.”
Troy and Tez
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Question: What makes the combination of both Troy Franklin and Tez Johnson so dynamic together?
Lanning: “I think we have a really good wide receiver room and part of what makes them special is having a quarterback that can throw to him right and find him in tight windows. But we’re able to move those guys around. The position versatility those guys play with, they play in a lot of different personnel groups and a lot of different places on the field, and that makes it hard defensively to take somebody like those guys away.”
Tez Johnson
Question: Specifically with Tez, what has allowed him to have such a good season in Oregon?
Lanning: “Just goes back to the rhythm that we’re building. And early on in the season we talked about when we were playing our best ball at the end of the season, right? And I think you look at our team and you’ll see a lot of guys that have consistently improved, gotten better, a scheme that’s adapted and gotten better and built off of what we’ve done. I think we do a lot of different stuff off previous looks. That it isn’t necessarily the same, and he’s done a great job of building off of that. Taking advantage of the opportunities that come his way.”
Jordan Burch
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Question: What have you seen really start to click for Jordan Burch over the past few games?
Lanning: “The player that we all knew Jordan could be. He’s a powerful guy. He’s explosive. He’s really executing the plan, the rush plan really well right now. I think he would be the first one to tell you that it helps having great players around him too, because it’s hard to take a guy like that away when he has talented players around him and talented guys in coverage. But he’s playing at a really high level. I’m really proud of the progress he’s made.”
Another Crack at the Apple
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Question: What are the benefits of playing a team for a second time?
Lanning: “I really won’t get into specifics as far as the game plan, but there are critical moments we didn’t win, right? You look at some critical downs or critical situations that we didn’t win. You didn’t walk away and felt like we dominated in each phase. Each phase there were pieces we wanted pieces, we lost. But really, it’s about attacking some of those moments as far as what you do differently or what you do the same. I’m probably not going to get into that because I don’t necessarily tell anybody else what we’re doing.”
Rome Odunze
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Question: What makes it so difficult to guard someone like Rome Odunze?
Lanning: “I mean, if you double him, then you’re gonna be short in the run game. If you don’t have double him then he has a one-on-one, he has an opportunity to win. He attacks the ball in the air extremely well. He’s got great speed. He kind of runs every route in the route tree, and he has a quarterback who can give it to him. So really presenting some great challenges is one thing that I think they’ve done a really good job of is building the run game. Since we played them, I think that’s something that’s really stepped up and improved, and that only makes him even more of a dangerous target.”
Gary Bryant and the WR Depth
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Question: Is there an update on WR Gary Bryant and how does the depth at the WR position help you in the case of banged up players?
Lanning: “I think we have a really good group in that room and some young guys that could certainly be contributing and helping us we just have some guys that have been playing at a really high level there with them. You know, a couple of the benefits of this game is now that your postseason play no longer affects redshirt issues as well. So that could allow guys to have some more opportunities. As far as Gary, he’s out there and getting better. I think we’ll be in good shape to happen this weekend.”
Heisman Talk
Question: Why do you think Bo Nix should win the Heisman Trophy?
Lanning: “Well, Bo’s obviously an elite player, and we’re still playing football. I think that speaks to the caliber of player the Bo is. The fact that we’re competing for a championship, you know, leads the nation in passing, and it’s obviously, you know, I don’t memorize all those statistics, but just watch Bo play and watch how much of a difference he makes for us. But just as important as that award, you know what that is to Bo and our team, he’s more excited about getting to play in a championship game this weekend. And I think anybody that’s watching Bo Nix play and the caliber that he’s played recognizes that he definitely deserves merit for that award.”
Jahlil Florence and Rodrick Pleasant
(AP Photo/Andy Nelson)
Question: Is there an update on Jahlil Florence and Rodrick Pleasant?
Lanning: “I’m expecting us to be able to have you know some of those guys back. We’ll still have wait and see as the week progresses. That’s kind of the way it goes at this point in the season. But yeah we’ll play whoever we need to play to have success. You know, we have plenty of DBS here that can play good football for us. You know, plenty of safeties, plenty of linebackers. Again, not to divulge our plan, but we’ll match personnel and go out there and give it our best look.”
Connection
Question: You said last week that you haven’t been around a team that is as connected as this one. What all does that mean?
Lanning: “Genuine love for each other. An excitement for when their teammate does extremely well, you know, there isn’t selfishness on this team. There aren’t a lot of me guys. It’s really about the team. They spend time with each other outside of the building. It’s not just football, right? They, you know, watch movies at each other’s house. They go out and eat together. You know, they have real relationships. It’s not just go to your dorm room and shut the door. You know, and that’s something I certainly appreciate.”
Camden Lewis
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Question: How do you weigh the struggles for Camden Lewis between maybe something mental or something mechanical that he’s doing on the field?
Lanning: “Practice. He (Camden) had a game-winning field goal today at practice and executed really well. And we continue to push every single player on our team from a positional standpoint to who can give us the best opportunity to compete and play well. You know, he’s made a lot of big kicks here. I expect him to continue to do that. And sometimes there are struggles, kind of like a golf game, kicking can be the same at times. Camden’s a pro. He knows what we expect from him and like I said, today we recreated those situations in practice and he made a big kick today in practice.”
The Transfer Portal
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Question: How do you deal with everything you guys are focused on and also the transfer portal opening next week?
Lanning: “We have people in our organization that always keep their eyes open for what opportunities might be out there to enhance our program, but that’s certainly not my focus right now. And certainly not our coaches’ focus right now. We’re completely focused on what’s ahead of us this season to prepare our players to play as well as we can this season. Not really focused on next season. It’s the same thing I’ve asked our players to do. There’s some guys on our team probably when the portal opens, will look to other opportunities that could exist. That’s just the reality of college football, but I’ve asked them to put that on the back burner right now and focus on their team. So we have a bunch of guys committed right now who are working extremely hard out there on the practice field.
I was extremely impressed with our look teams today and how hard they went and the effort they gave some really tough looks. But that speaks to guys that aren’t necessarily getting the limelight, the attention on Saturdays, but they’re just as critical to our success. And that’s really everyone in the organization’s focus right now is where we’re at in this moment. Not really next week. Not really two days from now, really, right now.”
