Everything Dan Lanning said after Oregon's 49-10 win over Colorado
Oregon extended its win streak to eight games Saturday afternoon with a 49-10 beatdown of Colorado on the road. Coach Dan Lanning thought it was closer to that complete game the Ducks have been looking for this season, and he was proud of the way his team fought all throughout.
He met with reporters after the game to break things down. Here’s everything he said:
Opening statement
“Fun environment, I was excited to see a lot of Duck fans in the stands today. I think that was really impressive by our fans to show up. It’s always a benefit to go on the road and feel like at times you’re playing in a home environment.
“I thought we played a more complete game today. We talked about playing a four-quarter game, not just in the middle, and we started off pretty fast on offense, had some success really on defense, and then we’re able to finish the game off closer like we want to be able to play. This is a game we expected to do well, in dominant fashion. I think for the most part we did that.
“That being said, a lot of things you walk away with that we can clean up. We continue to have some issues with pre-snap penalties at times. Got to do a better job on third down defensively. But our guys played and they’re hungry to get better. We’re about to hit a stretch of some really tough games here coming up. So, excited to see us hit the ground running for improvement as soon as we get back to Eugene.”
On how the wind impacted the game
“I think that’s the windiest game I’ve ever coached in. I can’t think of a situation where I’ve been in a game where it’s been that windy, and it’s different. You’re literally talking about, ‘OK, we feel like we can throw the ball right now because of the wind.’ What was unique is how the wind continued to change. It would feel like it’s blowing one direction one minute and then the complete opposite direction the next. Certainly, a different situation than we’re used to, but I thought our guys handled it well. Thought our kicking game was actually pretty solid considering we were able to kick a lot of the kickoffs out of the endzone, regardless of what direction we’re kicking.”
On QB Bo Nix
“Bo did what we expect him to do. He has set a standard for himself now. Now, if he doesn’t operate at that standard, then there’s an expectation and I think he has higher expectations for himself than anybody else. Really proud of his performance, really proud. I think Bo would be the first one to tell you that performance is credit to an offensive line, that performance is credit to a pass from Bucky, that performance is credit to his coaching staff. That’s what makes Bo good. Pleased with the way he handled things today.”
On what allows Nix to impact the game in so many ways
“All the things you guys have seen all season. He continues to do what we expect. Big fan of our quarterback right now. He’s playing really well.”
On why they decided to use more gadget plays against CU than they had previously
“I just think when you’re a team that’s complete and you’re hard to predict, it’s harder to really prepare for you. Some people will talk about, ‘Well, you could have saved this, saved that.’ For us, they’re not really trick plays when you execute them consistently in practice. That being said we want to come out here and score and the standard doesn’t change regardless who you play.”
On DB Christian Gonzalez returning to Boulder
“Every time you talked to Christian going into this week he just said it’s just a normal game. But let’s be honest, this wasn’t a normal game for Christian. He had an expectation for how he wanted to perform. I’ll have to go back and watch the film to see how he did. Obviously had two exceptional plays.”
On offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham
“Kenny would be the first to tell you our whole offensive staff has really been in sync, and our offensive play-calling has been in sync and we do a good job setting up plays. You guys saw some plays that got ran today. There were also several plays that got called and then we got checked out of. Why? Because our quarterback’s able to control the game like that. I understand how you guys might see those plays as different plays, but those are some of the same plays we’ve called all year and then our quarterback decided it was there or it wasn’t there, based on the look we got.”
On Alex Forsyth not playing in the second half
“We’ve got guys that are able to play, that deserve the opportunity to go out there and perform well in practice. Want to give them an opportunity. Alex has played a lot of football for us, but he was in a position where we could put some other guys in the game and get them some game experience.”
On the defense
“Complete coverage bust on the deep one, we have a guy that’s not even playing the half field. So that was certainly disappointing. We have to do a better job on third down. A couple of the calls that we have are designed to take (away) certain plays that actually they threw, so it shouldn’t be there. We got to coach it better. Look for us to perform better in that scenario. We’ll grow from it.”
On the touchdown to OL Josh Conerly Jr.
“On his birthday. How about that? That play was a check. So, Bo checked us into that play if we got a certain look. Credit again to the performance of our quarterback. It’s built in and we had another play called. If we got a certain look, we’re able to check to that play. We’ll go back to, again, the preparation from our offensive staff and our players, Josh being prepared for his moment. It just so happens to be his birthday. So, pretty cool.”
On the defensive line
“I thought we had some really positive moments from all those guys up front. Also think there’s certainly some moments of growth for us there. The standard of performance for us, we don’t care really who we’re playing or what the situation is. Excited to watch the film and see where we’re at.”
On how long LB Noah Sewell has been asking to carry the ball on offense
“He’s never asked. Never asked once, but he was certainly excited when we put him in. We watch explosive plays every single week of really every team in the nation. We pull some and that triple option type look, we felt like that’d be something we can build off of and he was a good fit for that.”
On being part of the rivalry with Washington for the first time
“I’m excited. Obviously, this is a game that our fans are passionate about. I certainly understand the expectation for our team and so do our players. We want to go out here and execute at a high level. They’re playing really well. They had a tough win (Friday) night in a unique environment. So, we gotta go out there and play well. When we get out there on the field, I promise our guys will be ready.”
On the play of the interior defensive line
“I’ll have to go watch. I thought we got moved off the ball at times, but I think overall we controlled the game for the most part.”
On how Christian Gonzalez’s familiarity helped in game prep
“I think he’s a guy who plays with heightened awareness. I think they showed some formations that they’d shown earlier in the year and we had an idea that that might be the routes that we were going to get. He did a good job on the last interception of falling off on a route that we kind of expected to see. I don’t know if it was necessarily familiarity with them more so than … a good job of film study on his part.”
On scoring more than 40 points again
“The more points you score, the better chance you’ve got to win. You want to score more than the other team. That’s always our goal.
“We don’t care about stats. Stats are for losers. We want to win the game. I’m sure our players take pride in it. I don’t want that to come across the wrong way. The goal is to win. The goal is always win. The goal is meet the expectation for us. Sometimes that equates to a lot of points. Sometimes that equates to a 15-play drive. But it’s an expectation for performance. That’s the goal.”
On preparing for Washington
“Preparations really already started. Before we even get into that next week. We’ve kind of taken our time even throughout the bye week and said, ‘OK, what do we really want this week to look like as we enter this last stretch of the season?’ You don’t make it a different game than it is. But at the same time, there’s an expectation. This is an important game for us and we want to go win the game. But you do that with work, so we’re going to go work. That’s what we’re going to do. Do you change your routine? Not necessarily. You’ll do some things potentially different but you don’t change what got you here.”
On how fun it is for him to see the offensive staff crafting gameplans
“I think it’s always that unique piece of having an identity. There’s some plays that you’ll see us carrying every single week, and then being able to build off of that identity with some wrinkles that might work for you. Everything in football is stolen. It’s no different for defense offense, special teams. You see it somewhere else. you say, ‘That’s something we can have success with.’ I think what our offensive staff’s done a good job of is continuing to play with an identity of physicality — whether it’s running duo or inside zone or counter — and being able to throw the ball down the field, but then build off of it with a wrinkle where you get to throw the quarterback a touchdown.”
On if he believes in the concept of a rivalry or if he treats it like just another game
“I think so. I don’t know if I’ve ever put that much thought into it. I think it’s pretty apparent this is a rivalry game coming up. I guess we could pretend like it’s not, but it matters. Does that mean we prepare different? Do we treat it like a different situation? No. If you go out here and play the circumstance or the event rather than the game, you’re not going to be able to play to your ability.
“But do I acknowledge there’s a rivalry coming up? Absolutely. Do we have a plan of preparation and a way we want to execute? Absolutely. I have a lot of respect for that team we’re about to play. They’re playing really good football right now.”