Everything Oregon coach Dan Lanning said at his press conference to preview Stanford
Oregon head coach Dan Lanning met with reporters Monday night to preview the upcoming week’s game against Stanford, recap the Ducks’ win over Washington State, and a bunch more. He provided a status update on running back Byron Cardwell, addressed the targeting suspension for DJ Johnson, and threw some shade at Pro Football Focus.
Lots of ground was covered. Here’s everything Lanning said, with video of the press conference below:
Opening statement
“First off, want to just congratulate Coach (Matt) Ulmer and Coach (Graeme) Abel on their big wins with soccer and volleyball this past weekend. Always fun to see other sports do a really good job as well. They have home games again this week that we’re excited to see.
“Also want to thank just everybody in the Pac-12 this past week for taking the time to honor Spencer (Webb) by painting the tick marks. I think that’s a really neat way to commemorate and remember a guy that obviously means so much to us.
“All that being said, I said most of my thoughts (on Washington State) right after the game, but excited to be able to walk away from a tough environment and a tough start with a win. And I’m really proud of our guys and their resiliency and how they finish that game. Certainly, a lot of stuff for us to grow on. Looking forward to playing a team that I have a lot of respect for and a coach that I have a lot of respect for in Stanford this week.”
On preparing for Stanford
“Yeah, they are certainly different. They have their own footprint, and they’re a different team to prepare for — some of the packaging and personnel groups you have to get ready for. The way they just play, the style of play they have is different. They’ve had a lot of success over the last few years. We were able to hit on some of that history today with our team, and I think our guys are really familiar with the success that Stanford’s had in the past and have a lot of respect for that team.”
On how a night kick changes the schedule
“We do a few different things. We kind of have all the schedules mapped out in advance based on when our kick is — back to when we go to bed the night before, what that timing looks like. We have an activation lift that we do the day of the game. There’s a few things that we do a little bit different with a little later kickoff.”
On the DJ Johnson targeting call
“It’s been appealed, and it’s been denied.”
On Stanford’s front seven
“Still getting into (the tape). But yeah, there is a lot of experience. It’s a team that plays with great discipline. They don’t give up big explosives. I think that shows when you look at their penalties, they’re one of the lower penalized teams in the nation. There’s some experience that certainly shows up, and you can see it on film.”
On the message to keep the team from getting complacent after a big win
“We spent time this morning talking about the variety of ways that we’ve won this season and the variety of teams that we’ve play. I think you just kind of can continue on where do we need to grow? Where do we need to build for us to be a complete team? We’ve proven we can win in some different settings and some different ways, but this is a team that we have to bring our best for. It’s about Oregon and our improvement. We have a lot of respect for this team. This team shortened our season last year. Some of the guys in our room, they still have a bad taste in their mouth from playing these guys before. That’s not far from their minds and playing to our best is, so that’s really what we focus on.”
On Bo Nix’s improvement and who on the coaching staff gets credit for it
“Kenny (Dillingham) and I didn’t play a single snap on Saturday. Bo deserves credit for the way he performed. Our players deserve credit for the way that they perform in games. He performed well. Does he have to take coaching? Does he have to grow and improve? Absolutely. But he’s done that. He did what he needed to do in the game on Saturday. I promise you there’s plays he wants back, too.
“I didn’t play a single snap and neither to Coach Dillingham. Does that mean he was well-prepared? Absolutely. He was, but he put in the work to be well-prepared.”
On if he felt like he learned more about his team in Week 4 than in prior weeks
“I don’t know. I think each game that we’ve walked away from, I feel like I’ve learned something unique in each one. That game to me was our DNA trait game. We had to go out there and play a team in a rough situation where we had to really show some resiliency and there were moments of sacrifice and growth and toughness and all those things really showed up, the things that we talk about, connection. All those things really showed up in that game for us. I think you saw it firsthand as it played out. I’m sure there were a lot of people that didn’t really believe there at the end of the game, but I don’t think there was ever an ounce of doubt on our sideline, which I certainly appreciated because we needed all hands on deck. We learned a lot from it. I think we’ve learned a lot from each game we’ve played in this year.”
On the play where Gonzalez got caught looking to the sideline
“It was a trick play where they’re basically checking to see if we’re checking. At times if an offense changes their call and you don’t change your call defensively, they can catch what you’re in. They tried to simulate like they were changing their call offensively, and then they didn’t, snapped the ball. We can coach that better and do a better job of that on our sideline and we will. We’ll coach it better. You don’t want to give up a big play and something for us to learn from as a team.”
On the fourth-down throw to Bucky Irving
“That’s good players making good plays there. You’re 100% right — it does get a little bit overshadowed. I mean, that game is a completely different game if that fourth down doesn’t get converted. That’s an extended play. It didn’t happen clean like you anticipate it happening when you call the play. The two guys did a great job of making a play there, as well as the protection up front and other guys within the sequence of the play doing their job really made all those things work.”
On the red zone
“We worked red area today. I think one of the things that this team has shown us is if there’s something that we’re not doing well, we’re gonna work on it and work on ways to improve it. We focused on it. We talked about it as a staff yesterday and ways that we can be better there. And we’ll continue to do the same. We focused on it in practice today and now it’s gotta show up on the field. We have to do that in practice first before we expect to have the results we want on gameday.”
On Stanford’s big-play receivers
“It’s a challenge that we’re excited for. These guys are big. They go attack the ball down the field, and they do a good job of finding a one-on-one and then taking advantage of it. We have to go win one-on-ones. We have to win one-on-ones on the perimeter. We’ll have to do more with less at times in the run game. They’ve certainly had some explosive runs when they do a good job of reading out their plays and seeing what’s there, whether it be you know, run option or pass down the field. So it’s a good challenge for us.”
On the punter job
DL: “We wanted to give Ross a shot to see what he was able to do in a game. He’s performed some in practice and I think that we’ll continue to find ways to make sure we give our best opportunity to be successful moving forward. So if it’s Ross, then it’ll be Ross. If it’s Adam, it’ll be Adam and we’ll see what it looks like as we continue to move.”
On Troy Franklin
“For me, it’s watching him in spring ball. I think I always say that in here. What you do on the practice field, it shows up in games. I’ve seen Troy do that. The thing that I’m more proud of with Troy is what he’s done to help grow his body. His body composition has changed. He’s gotten bigger. He’s gotta continue to get bigger, but I think that’s helped him be stronger and have better play strength. You see some of those plays show up. There’s a drill that we call ‘stumblebum’ here that we do that showed up on that very last play where he’s falling to the ground and puts his hand down, and there’s an opportunity for ball security to be poor. You’ll watch him cross in the endzone with the ball covered up in the other hand, and that’s something that we take a lot of pride in coaching. Troy did a good job of executing on the field. What I would say is Troy’s what he does in practice and it’s showing up on gameday.”
On Marcus Harper
“Marcus has had some really great moments. I think our offensive line in general has performed well. I would say that this past week’s challenge was the biggest challenge from moving parts, the way they did a variety of things up front. I thought our line handled that really well. I think Marcus has other stuff he can get better at, too.”
On Chase Cota
“Chase has just proven to be trustworthy. We knew that coming in that he was trustworthy. He’s all about the team, and when the ball comes his way, he’s done a good job of making the play. He’s very reliable, and I think that shows up consistently from him and his play.”
On the starting five offensive linemen playing every snap
DL: “I don’t think that’s the case. There were some other guys that played.
Q: “PFF snap counts said they played all 79.”
DL: “I guess you’ll just have to watch the game tape then. I guess PFF’s snaps are wrong. I don’t know who does that. Some guy sitting in his basement is tallying it up wrong. I know JPJ played as well. We had several adjustments there. We have a good group of guys that we can play multiple people, and that’s a good thing, that’s a positive for us. Certainly, there were a number of guys that got the significant amount of snaps but that’s not the correct number.”
On Byron Cardwell, Steven Jones, and Caleb Chapman
“I’m not sharing anything on Steven. We’ll continue to evaluate where we’re at on Byron. When he’s able to do everything in practice and we feel comfortable about his health, then he’ll definitely be a guy that I think can help us and contribute for us. Chap, I think is close to being able to help us out there on the field. He’s certainly healthier now than he has been, so his role can grow if he’s able to get it done in practice for us.”
On the advantage of being able to rotate on the defensive line
“Definitely a positive. We have to continue to develop our roster and I think the best way to develop your roster is through experience. We want to be a team that can play multiple players, so that’s something we have to continue to do. Obviously stopping the run is a premium when you play Stanford. They want to bloody your nose a little bit, and they do a good job of that. It’ll be important in this game.”
On Stanford’s Kyu Blu Kelly
“We just have to do our 1/11th. This game is going to be about winning one-on-ones across the board. They have 11 guys, we have 11. Obviously, he’s a really good player. He’s a talented player, but our guys just have to go out there and operate within the system and when they get their opportunity, take advantage of it.”