Dan Lanning said Oregon’s slow start against Washington in the Pac-12 Championship was too much to overcome. The Ducks responded well after spotting Washington a 20-3 lead, but falling into an early hole gave UW momentum and loads of confidence.

Particularly in the pass game, Washington was clicking in ways it hadn’t since the first meeting between the two teams. Michael Penix Jr. threw for 319 yards and a touchdown. He hit five 20-plus chunk plays through the air against a defense that entered the game as one of the most efficient pass defenses in the country.

Oregon entered the game already down one starting cornerback in Jahlil Florence. Over the course of the game, Oregon also lost fellow starting corner Khyree Jackson.

Against a team with a collection of wideouts as good as any in the country, being hampered in the secondary was a worst-case kind of scenario.

“That’s a cop-out for us,” Lanning said, though. “We have guys who practice hard and prepare all week. You’re banged up. It’s that point in the season.”

Oregon also lost starting defensive end Jordan Burch early in the game. Getting pressure on Penix was key for the Ducks going in and it proved a huge differentiator in the game. When Oregon got to Penix, it changed the tenor of the game. When Oregon failed to put him under duress, Penix diced the secondary.

“Jordan Burch is a great player. Certainly makes us better,” Lanning said. “That would be an excuse. Nobody’s playing healthy at this time of the season. They’re banged up, too. We didn’t finish.”

He pointed to third-down defense as a major issue. Washington went 10-for-15 on money downs. Lanning felt they didn’t have tight enough matches in coverage, and that was most evident on the third-and-4 conversion with two minutes to play in the game.

“You can’t take away one guy because they have other guys,” Lanning said. “I thought they did a good job in protection tonight. We tried to be aggressive at times with pressure. They probably made us pay for that.”