The 15th-ranked Oregon Ducks (2-1) open conference play with a road trip to Pullman, Washington to battle the unbeaten Washington State Cougars (3-0) on Saturday at 1 p.m. PT on FOX.

Oregon is coming off a major 41-20 win over BYU, the kind of performance that leads to confidence, the kind that can springboard a team. The Ducks we’ve seen in recent weeks are a much different group than what the world saw in Week 1. Washington State will present another test.

Head coach Dan Lanning met with members of the media Monday evening to preview that game and cover a variety of other topics. Here’s everything he said, with video of the press conference at the bottom.

Opening statement

“Before we really start talking about Washington State, I do you want to address something that happened in our game this past weekend with BYU. Obviously, like many of you, I was really frustrated and disgusted to hear the things that were said during the game. I got the opportunity to reach out to (BYU coach) Kalani (Sitake). I know our athletic director, Rob (Mullens), got to reach out to Tom, their AD there at BYU and express our frustration and also apologize for the behavior of a few that really puts a cloud over a great group and a really fun situation for our players and our fans on Saturday. So, that being said, there’s no room for that in our stadium, and anybody who’s going to partake in that doesn’t need to be in our stadium. So, that’s been addressed.

“We’re looking forward to getting to play a good Washington State team. These guys have gone and won some tough games and been in some tough battles, obviously getting the chance to go play a team like Wisconsin and playing the way they did is really impressive. They won some tough games. I think they do some unique things offensively and defensively. Coach (Jake) Dickert has done a great job up there of being aggressive on defense and creating some negative plays. They’ve had some really explosive plays on offense. They have a quarterback that can extend plays and does a good job of getting the ball downfield, but is also dangerous with his legs.

“They certainly present some unique challenges. And, as we all know, traveling to Pullman, that’s a unique environment, a special environment to play games (at), so I expect them to have a great crowd out there and for it to be a good challenge for our players.”

On Bo Nix’s development, specifically on third down

“I think it speaks to his growth as a player. I think it also speaks to the plan for him and I think we all can agree that being in third-and-manageable or fourth-and-manageable is a lot better than being in third-and-long situations. It’s us making sure that we stay in sequence on offense to where we’re not taking negative plays, we’re not putting ourselves in holes to where you have to, you know, go be in third-and-14 or third-and-10 situations. He’s done a good job of operating what we’ve asked him to do.”

On Nix’s fourth-quarter run where he dove forward rather than sliding

“I didn’t tell him to slide. I mean, I like guys that are winners, the ones who want to get first downs like Bo wants to get first downs. Obviously, want to be smart but you’re a competitor. You want to go get a first. Go get a first. Certainly, at some point, I can be sitting up here and I can regret that I said that but you don’t tell guys how to compete. Bo wanted to compete and go get a first down. I’m excited to see it. I remember being a kid watching (the NFL) — I didn’t like the Broncos, I liked the Chiefs — but I remember John Elway fighting for first downs and spinning into the endzone. You appreciate that as a football coach. I’m glad he’s trying to go get a first.”

On focal points offensively to face Washington State’s defense

“They bring some unique pressures — some run-down pressures, pass-down pressures — that can create negative plays. Their d-line is really aggressive. So, again, I think staying on schedule is important for us. We’ve got to find those opportunities to make sure we don’t start off and be sitting there at second-and-12. You want to try to stay on schedule and instead of being second-and-12, we’ll be second-and-6 or first-and-10. They do a good job of generating pressure when they can generate pressure and then when they can’t, they do a good job of playing on the perimeter. So they’ve done a great job on defense of staying on task. That’s impressive by them.”

On how they’ve improved since the Georgia game

“I think we’re playing a little bit more of a physical brand of football, really on both sides and ball. We’ve obviously been able to establish the run and then do a good job tackling on the perimeter the last couple games. That’s something that has to continue for us. We’ve said for us it’s about chopping wood and carrying water. There’s work to be done and if you want results, you’ve got to keep chopping wood and carrying water, and you’ve got to do that at practice for that to show up in the game. The last few weeks our practices have been really good and that’s shown up and carried over in the game. I think we’ve got to see the same thing this week.”

On not yet giving up a sack

“It’s a combination of our guys doing well up front, the ball coming out on time up front. Our coaching staff has done a good job as well. But it’s also a tribute to what kind of defenses we’ve been playing. I think if you watch the game, last game, you’re gonna see a lot of three-man rush from BYU. That’s easier to protect against and get the ball out than it is when people are bringing five or six. I’ll say this, we don’t want to give up sacks, but on the same note, our goal isn’t how many sacks we give up a game, our goal is to win. That can be viewed a couple of different ways, but it’s a really good job by our offensive staff, Coach (Adrian) Klemm, and those guys up front, but it’s not the only measuring stick for us offensively.”

On his message to the defense heading into conference play

“Let’s put plays together back-to-back. Let’s keep operating and play a complete game. I still think for us we haven’t played a four-quarter game in all phases and that’s something I want to see from us. We want to go out there and compete and grow. There’s a lot of learning moments for us in this past game against BYU where, to a certain fan or spectator, might not look for a moment of growth for us. There are a lot of things that we can get better at. We ID’d those today. Our players went out and attacked them today, and I thought we had a really good practice.”

On the traditional Air Raid vs. the Washington State iteration, the ‘Coug Raid’

“They’re more balanced. It’s unique. When I’ve played teams like this in the past, you kind of carry one defense, and it’s what you have to play the entire week and it’s usually a little bit unique for that. That being said they still have 11 personnel, they have 12 personnel. They use the tight end. So it’s more to prepare for it, and they do a lot more, but they still can create some of those issues that the Air Raid can create. Not as much time can be devoted to one thing in practice, and I think that’s a challenge. They do a good job of mixing it up. And their tight end’s certainly have caught a couple of passes this year. He does a good job.”

On what will determine the playing time for DBs Trikweze Bridges, Dontae Manning, and Jahlil Florence going forward

“Each one of them had opportunities and each one had success and didn’t have success. So I think we have to continue to grow. We’re going to play as many players as we can that can play winning football. All three of those guys are very capable of playing winning football and have. It’s about developing consistency there at that position and being able to go make plays when those opportunities come your way. I think all those guys can play for us and play winning football. We’ll play as many guys that can.”

On RB Bucky Irving and what contributed to the three-back rotation against BYU

“It was a combination of who was available in the game for us and also who’s playing well.

“I’ve seen Bucky run with violence. What I was more excited about: when you walk away from that game, compared to even the Eastern Washington game, is one of our big goals as an offense was how do we play without the ball? I think the very first play, Kris Hutson gets the ball but you see Bucky out there blocking his tail off. Troy Franklin had several plays where he’s blocking like crazy. Bo’s getting out there in front blocking. The way we were blocking and playing without the ball was what was really impressive to me, and I think some of those explosive plays that came on Bucky runs or Noah (Whittington) runs or whoever had the ball at the time, that was credit to what other people around them were doing as well. That’s a benefit.

“Again, I’ve been a part of a lot of situations. When I was at Georgia, we’re playing for a national championship, we had five backs that had close to 50 carries. So you play as many guys that can play winning football. It’s nice for us to have a group right now that can do that.”

On OL Steven Jones’ status

“Hopeful we can get him back. I don’t know that I have a direct timeline on him right now.”

On Nix’s ability to exit the game, sit, then re-enter and finish things out

“I think all of our players were engaged the entire game. I think we all wanted to play better there going into the fourth quarter and we’re certainly capable of that. I don’t know if there’s a certain message that’s delivered there other than every one of our guys has to be available and ready the entire game.”

On keys to recent quick starts offensively

“Preparation. Doing it at practice first let’s it carry over to the game. The openers, the plays that we run offensively and defensively early in the game are plays that we’ve practiced all week. When you can do those consistently in practice, it’ll carry over to the game.”

On the third-down defense

“It’s something that we’ve got to continue to work on. I think Week 1 put us obviously at a disadvantage because we did really poorly week 1. I think it’s gotten better each week, but there are certainly some moments that continue to improve. You know, I’m not looking at a small sample size of three games. I’m gonna look at the entirety of the season. We’ll always self-evaluate our growth there and continue to look to improve.”

On Washington State LB Daiyan Henley

“Athletic ability, motor, versatility. I think you see all that and they use him in a lot of unique ways which obviously that’s a benefit for them.”

On the return game

“I think we just have to be more consistent. Creating those opportunities in practice, we were able to show some balls that were mismanaged in practice and then we were able to show the game film, and guess what, it shows up in both places. We have to work it and do it consistently in practice for it to carry over in games. But we have people that are very capable back there to return kicks for us. We just got to take advantage of our athleticism when we get the chance.”

On anything that might be done differently to emphasize ball security when facing a team that takes it away frequently, as Washington State does

“Takeaways come in bunches, usually. It’s certainly something we emphasize every single week on defense and offense. We did a ball security circuit today on offense. It’s always going to be at the forefront for us. But you want to take advantage of opportunities when the ball is in jeopardy. So we try to identify those, and hopefully that’s something we can capitalize on this week.”

On LB Jackson LaDuke starting at inside linebacker with Justin Flowe sidelined

“He’s done a good job for us being available. That’s part of it and part of that is based on the personnel that BYU is putting out there on the field. When we play 12 personnel we’re gonna play a little bit bigger at times. Jackson’s done a good job of knowing his assignment and being available to help us.”

On whether there’s surprise with how quickly they’ve been able to identify weaknesses and then correct them

“I just think it speaks to the character of our team and being able to take constructive criticism. It’s such a trait that doesn’t exist in youth at times today, where you hear something and if it doesn’t sound like what you want to sound like, not necessarily everybody wants to go work on it. Our guys have been hungry to improve and if they see something they can get better at and they can see a visual of why it matters, it usually carries over. They do a really good job of receiving the message and then trying to detail their work so they can be better at it.”

On the heavy package with OL Josh Conerly Jr. and a fullback

“It’s something we’ve carried and worked on. You’ve seen it for the first time really last week, but it’s something that we’ve carried and wanted to be able to use. We liked the way it looked early on when we used it in the game and we felt like it was something we could lean on throughout the game. Josh has grown more and more every single week and into a role that we feel like we want to make sure we can get him on the field and use him. That’s certainly a place that he can help us there.”

On OLB DJ Johnson

“DJ is a guy that we can constantly point out defensively for us in our practice film and then on game film of his relentless effort and pursuit of the ball. That carries over and it leads to several tackles, but also an impact on a lot of plays within the game. I know DJ has some plays that he wishes he had back from that last game, where he can grow. Looking for more opportunities for him to do that. But when you play with great effort, it shows up.”

On DL Brandon Dorlus

“He played a good game. Just like I said with DJ, there’s some moments where I know that Dorlus probably wants to have back that he feels like he can do better. He’s been a guy that’s embraced growth, and he’s been a guy that practices really hard and then plays really well. And that’s kind of the way it works. When you practice really hard, you play well, and that showed up for him in the game. Really pleased that he’s able to help us out and help out our team.”

On the fourth-down decision on Oregon’s side of the field

“I think I said it before, but that decision was made before the game started for us. We knew what situations within the game, when, what we liked, and what we felt would be effective against them. And sometimes I’ll probably come in here and it won’t work, and I’m sure I’ll probably get a lot of questions about that. But, at that moment, we felt really confident in what our plan was and that decision was made well before we got to the field on Saturday.”

On PK Andrew Boyle’s play and any possible advantages he can provide coming from Washington State

“I haven’t asked him yet. I probably should. I don’t know if I need to wear a long sleeve shirt or a T-shirt, that would probably be the first question I’d ask Andrew. I think he would tell you that he wants to be more consistent. He had some really good kicks and he’s very capable of placing the ball in the right spot. He’s just got to do it more consistently.”

On the management of in-game defensive subs

“You work it. We do ‘move the field’ periods in practice. Anytime an offensive team is going to change their personnel, it gives you the opportunity defensively to change your personnel as well. They have to make decisions, we get an opportunity to match the decisions that they make offensively, and we try to take advantage of that.”

On LB Justin Flowe and RB Byron Cardwell

“They were both able to practice today. I wouldn’t sit here and say they’re both 100% yet but I’m hopeful that both of them can help us this next weekend.”