Dan Lanning said Saturday night that when the Oregon offense took the field with just over five minutes to play, down two points, needing a drive to avoid an upset on the road, there was a confidence about his team.

Bo Nix hit Tez Johnson for 14 yards on a second-and-8, then Patrick Herbert for 21 yards on the ensuing play, and the Ducks were in business.

They’d crossed the 50 after three plays. After five plays, they had entered the red zone. Lanning said from there, they didn’t want to leave time on the clock for a Red Raider possession at the end.

Oregon forced Tech to burn two of its timeouts under two minutes before a third-and-3 toss to Jordan James went awry.

The Ducks called a pitch play for James to the short side of the field. Tech pursued well and James was swallowed 4 yards in the backfield. He fell out of bounds, too, preserving a lifeline for Tech.

“There’s a lot of situational football that we’re really caught up on that we didn’t execute the right way tonight,” Lanning said after the game. “I think we probably could have gone back and thrown for it.”

Still, Camden Lewis knocked through a never-in-doubt field goal from 34 yards out that put the Ducks on the high side, 31-30.

Tech took over with 1:10 to play, but Tech gave it right back to the Ducks three plays in. Brandon Dorlus was there to pressure Tech quarterback Tyler Shough almost immediately on a second-and-5, forcing an errant throw right to Jeffrey Bassa, who brought the pass in and raced toward the endzone for a game-sealing score.

“Winning is not words, it’s action,” Lanning said. “We’re talking about winning the next play. Alright, don’t worry about the future. Don’t worry about the past. Let’s live in the present. Right now, let’s win the next play. Let’s anticipate what we’re going to see. Let’s have a plan to execute well on this play.

“And there’s a lot of moments where we’ve got to execute a lot better, right? But I thought our players did that. They lived in the moment. They didn’t focus on outcomes, they focused on the standard — what we have to go execute right now — and it put us in position to win this game.”