There were some hiccups along the way, especially on defense, but the Oregon Ducks managed to take care of business today and pull out a win. They took down the USC Trojans in a game where the offenses were explosive just like we expected and the penalties were raining down from the heavens.
We already know Dan Lanning isn’t satisfied with just this win and will find hundreds of minor details to clean up before the College Football Playoff, which seems like a virtual lock at this juncture. But still, it was a convincing win for the Ducks against a good ranked team, something that had eluded them up to this point.
Another win to close out the season next week should clinch a home playoff game for the Ducks, so Lanning will probably want to switch gears there very quickly. In the meantime, let’s take a look what he said about his team’s win today over the Trojans.
Opening Statement
Lanning: That was a fun one tonight. Our crowd again was unbelievable, great atmosphere there. I’m really proud we were able to go do that in that environment with our seniors. There’s some moments when you’re sitting in that game and you’re frustrated because you know we’re not performing to the best of our abilities. It was a great challenge. Their team is obviously very explosive on offense. Ultimately I think a lot of it comes down to the physicality we talked about for us to be able to go out and rush for almost 180 yards and hold them to 52 rushing yards, gives an indication of how do you win this game and what’s it look like. Special teams were special tonight. Obviously a huge punt return there from Malik. Disappointed in general in our lack of composure at times. I thought obviously we were penalized in this game, gave up 130 yards of penalties. Some of them made sense and some of them maybe didn’t. But ultimately there’s certainly some we can go clean up and attack. And we gotta be better on third down defensively. They had some moments there. But I thought defense showed up big there at the end of the game to get a stop. I thought they were big there at the end of the half for us to be able to control the momentum late and get the ball back. We didn’t do enough coming out of halftime, but we won the fourth quarter. That’s an area we wanted to be able to go attack. Overall, I’m really proud of our guys. Proud to go beat a good team – these guys, that’s a good team we just played. And ultimately looking for the opportunity to grow from this moment.
Next Man Up
Q: What do you make of so many guys stepping in after injuries?
Lanning: All those moments showed up. I always talk about being ready for your opportunity and not waiting for your opportunity. There’s some guys that were ready for their opportunity when their number was called. There’s some stuff we can clean up. But we got a bunch of guys that want to go out there and battle for the man next to them. They take a lot of pride in what they do. To be able to take six minutes off the clock on that last drive when they got a loaded box every down and the numbers for them are right, but we’re still able to out-push and finish physically – that’s what really matters.
Bucket List Item
Q: What went into Bryce Boettcher’s touchdown run?
Lanning: He’s been asking for the ball all year. We really put that in this week. Something we worked multiple times this week, worked it again yesterday, worked it Thursday practice, Wednesday practice. Something we felt we could carry in and smother defensive guys as well with A’Mauri and Bear. Excited to see what it looks like on film. I don’t know if anybody could keep Bryce out of that end zone when we gave him that opportunity.
Chess Moves
Q: How did you think the makeshift offensive line played?
Lanning: I have to go back and watch the film. But we were able to keep our quarterback clean. I thought he did a good job of decision making. I know he had the one turnover. But ultimately when you have a lot of changing parts that’s tough. Especially with a unit that has to play together in a cohesive unit. And those guys went out there and did that. There was some pre-snap penalties we have to clean up, a couple of errors we have to get better at. And work on getting our guys healthy to see what we’re gonna look like moving forward.
Special Teams Star
Q: What did you think of Malik Benson’s punt return touchdown?
Lanning: Another great example of a guy being ready for his opportunity. You saw his speed. We’ve seen his speed all season. Especially when he’s able to go field that punt. We didn’t feel like we were gonna have some aggressive opportunities for us on punt return there and that he was going to have a chance. I thought he did a good job of fielding the ball, getting into high gear and getting vertical quick. I’m sure we’re gonna turn on the film and see some great blocks on that as well. It was an awesome play, huge momentum swing in the game for sure. Great opportunity for them to feel like now they have to chase some points rather than us be battling back and forth.
Keep Your Emotions in Check
Q: How did you manage to keep the team’s emotions in check?
Lanning: For me all week, we’ve talked about not worrying about that. The fire and passion is gonna come on its own. We’ve talked all week about execution and not emotion. It’s unfortunate that showed up, but that can be a learning lesson for this group. We can take that and learn from it. You’re gonna play this game and play it with juice, especially if you play here. These guys care about each other, they love it. But we gotta be able to reset and get to the next play. We didn’t do that enough today. We did that in the second half much better.
Pressure Bursts Pipes
Q: What did you make of the pressure you put on USC?
Lanning: I think it’s huge when you can take away a team’s strength. I think they’ve been able to run the ball really well this season. For us to be able to stop it was big. Obviously we want to go back and clean up some of the passing attack they had. Their quarterback is special, they have some wideouts that made some big-time plays today, contested catches. It was a physical game from that standpoint. They were certainly going to attack the ball, our guys were trying to battle and fight and keep them from getting the ball. We can improve that and get better in that area, go evaluate it. I’m proud we could rush for 180 yards and them rushing for 52 I think tells a big story.
Another Freshman Contributor
Q: How well do you think Fox Crader played?
Lanning: He prepared really well this week. Our coaches have a lot of confidence in him. Again, a guy being ready for that. That means he did a lot of work until he got that opportunity too. That doesn’t just happen on accident. That’s a guy that is working his tail off. World rolled his ankle on the very first play of last game and played the entire game. That tells you a little bit about his toughness. But it was severe enough we felt he was pretty limited today coming in. Felt like he could go at moments, but Fox was ready. Certainly have to watch the film and evaluate it, but thought he did some really good things today.
Super Seniors
Q: What did you think of senior night?
Lanning: It was just special. This will be a day I think all of us, as we play, we remember our last time getting to play. Especially at this stadium. I told our guys, ‘You probably just added another opportunity if we continue to do our job to get to play here again.’ Ultimately, for those guys to have that moment, be able to enjoy that moment, we all wanted to put it on the line for the seniors tonight and the guys did that.
Are You Not Entertained?
Q: Could Boettcher have a role in the offense going forward?
Lanning: No, not really. I love Bryce, but I like our backs too. We got some pretty good backs. But I love Bryce. I’ll tell you this, he’s probably gonna remind me he’s 100 percent every time he carries the ball getting a touchdown. So you might see it again. Unbelievable job by him. Great job by our offensive staff coming up with some creativity we knew they hadn’t prepared for. Really good execution.
Response Time
Q: How well do you think you guys responded to USC’s big plays?
Lanning: There’s moments I thought we responded really well and there was moments we could be better. What I loved was the temperament of our team. We knew they were gonna throw some punches, that’s an explosive offense. They hit some big plays on us. I was really pleased with the guys being able to hit the reset button and saying, ‘Let’s go again.’ Obviously the back-to-back pass interference calls are frustrating.There’s some moments we definitely want to have back. But ultimately nobody ever had a long face when those moments happened. They were ready for the next play and realizing they could have an impact.
Roots Planted
Q: What do you think of questions about your future in Oregon?
Lanning: I don’t mind the question, but I guess ultimately people realize at this point that I’m not interested in being anywhere else. Like I’ve said for a long time, as long as I win I get the opportunity to be here. That’s on me. This is where I’ll be as long as I do that. What I can’t speak to is that my situation is so good that I feel really comfortable saying that. More than that, I love the commitment that they have given to me. Somebody gave me this opportunity and not everybody gets that.I can’t speak for anybody else’s situation when it comes to that. Probably tells you how special Oregon is. Certainly how special I feel getting to be here and getting to coach here – what a privilege that is for me. That’s something I will never take for granted. I want to be able to see it through.
Turnover Battle
Q: Was there an emphasis on winning the turnover battle?
Lanning: We felt takeaways would be a big piece in this game. It’s the common denominator in some of the losses they have had this season. We wanted to be able to protect the ball. Obviously we turned it over once as well. But I thought our ball security was good today. Those guys do as good of a job as anybody at attacking the ball when it comes to their defense. Our runners ran well with the ball today. And I thought our defense certainly attacked it. You could argue on the fourth down it would have been better to knock it down and save us a couple yards instead of the takeaway, but some big plays for sure.
Versatility
Q: How did you guys win such a high-scoring game against a great team?
Lanning: It’s just an example that we can beat you in multiple ways. We can outscore you at times, we can hold you to 18-16 type games, we can win in tough environments, any weather – put the ball down and let’s go play football. That’s the type of team we have. But I’m excited to see the growth we can walk away from and say, ‘How can we do this better?’ And there’s definitely going to be moments like that coming out of this game. We’re gonna see some elite passing attacks throughout the season and that’s something where we can improve. But ultimately, proud overall of this team’s performance today.
Staying in the Moment
Q: How do you think this win makes a case for the College Football Playoff?
Lanning: We just played a really good team and we beat them. A lot of times we play really good teams and they become unranked all of a sudden. That’s not our fault – well, maybe it is our fault. But all we’re worried about is playing the teams we play and doing the job we need to do. And we did that job today. Proof is in the pudding – we played a good team and we beat them. All we can do next week is try to do the same thing. This conference is a really good conference. It’s competitive. We didn’t play Chattanooga State today like some other places. We competed. That being said, it’s tough playing nine conference games, it’s tough playing in this league and we got to take advantage of playing a good team today and attacking that.
Unique Identity
Q: How have you managed to succeed with such a young team?
Lanning: It probably started early in the season when we’re playing some of those games and we’re playing 70 guys in the game or playing 80 guys in the game. And you’re realizing if you’re good enough and old enough, if you’re playing winning football you deserve an opportunity to be on the field. And those moments are starting to pay off for us. You never know when it’s gonna pay off. We’ve been really fortunate when it comes to the injury bug here and this year has been a little bit different. We’ve dealt with a couple of those things. Ultimately, guys have shown they are ready. And when you’re ready for your opportunity, that’s a special moment.
Star Tight End
Q: What did you make of Kenyon Sadiq’s performance?
Lanning: He’s special, isn’t he? I say I wish I could do that (when he hurdles people). Kenyon is special. I always have a good feeling whenever I’m able to touch base with him before pregame and he just kind of gave me that look like, ‘I’m ready to roll today,’ which is awesome. And our other tight ends played well today too. Jamari had some big plays. But Kenyon is a special player, man. I think we’re lucky to have the best tight end in the nation. His play has shown that. We’re better when he’s out there with us and certainly he’s a tough guy to defend. Whether it’s him lining up at wideout or if he’s blocking, he does it at a really high level.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Notable quotes from Dan Lanning after Oregon’s home win over USC
