Dan Lanning says Oregon doesn’t care about its underdog status in Week 1
Dan Lanning is a big “control what you can control” kind of coach. Don’t worry about outside noise. Don’t give your opponent bulletin board material. Keep the main thing the main thing.
So, asked Monday about the 11th-ranked Ducks’ being a 17-point underdog in their season-opening matchup with the third-ranked Georgia Bulldogs, Lanning was pretty unbothered.
“We don’t really bother ourselves about the opinions of others,” Lanning said, per UO’s Rob Moseley. “Nobody in Vegas is going to play in this game; our players are going to play in this game. We know what everyone thinks about our team, and that’s OK by us.”
Lanning on Oregon being an underdog this week: "We don’t really bother ourselves about the opinions of others. Nobody in Vegas is going to play in this game; our players are going to play in this game. We know what everyone thinks about our team, and that's OK by us." #GoDucks
— Rob Moseley (@DuckFootball) August 30, 2022
A key piece of Lanning’s message at his opening-week press conference was that Oregon is focusing on the work, not the billing.
Playing the defending champs in Week 1 carries a ton of attention on its own, but Oregon gets the added narrative of employing Georgia’s former defensive coordinator as its new head coach. So much of the talk is going to be about Lanning facing his former team and the defense he helped build.
Quarterback Bo Nix is playing in SEC country again. Lanning is back coaching in Atlanta. National brands squaring off on ABC in the mid-day slot. There’s a ton swirling around this game.
“Go play the game, not the occasion,” Lanning said. “You can’t win the game on emotion, you have to win the game on execution.”
Oregon and Georgia face off at 12:30 p.m. PT on Saturday. You can see Lanning’s entire Monday press conference below.