Oregon Ducks College Football Pregame Quote, 10/14/2024

Opening statement:

Lanning: “All right, turn around a short week, obviously a really exciting one for us this past weekend. Again, getting to play an elite opponent and getting to experience, you know, Autzen Stadium, like everyone should get to experience, it was really special. Proud of our players, certainly, a lot of moments going back and evaluating the game that we can clean up and make better. That being said, proud of the way our guys performed, and now trying to get turned around really quickly and move on to Purdue in a short week.”

Q: Will there be any additional discipline for Traeshon Holden?

Lanning: “Yeah, I mean, one, extremely disappointed with his actions within the game, you know, there’s absolutely zero place for that in our program, zero place for that in football. I reached out to Coach Day, you know, expressed my frustration in that situation. I know Traeshon’s extremely apologetic. He’s embarrassed. He realizes how wrong he was in that moment. And we will handle some things internally. There is some discipline that exists there, but I’m going to leave that for us internally to handle and communicate.”

Q: What can you expect from Justius Lowe this week with a potential bigger work load?

Lanning: “I think Justius has continued to prove his ability to help us as a team. When Justius is healthy, he can be a really, really special player, and he’s been healthy lately, and that’s been; I’m excited for how his role will continue to grow in our offense, as well as some other guys that I think will get opportunities to see their role grow in our offense. But Justius has done a good job and proud of his performance so far this year.”

Q: Do you have any more clarity on Jordan Burch and his timetable to return?

Lanning: “Yeah, again, continue to evaluate it for him. We want to do what’s best for him. You know, I do anticipate us being able to use Jordan again, but I don’t know that that’ll be this week. I don’t know that it won’t. So we’ll just keep evaluating that and see what it looks like.”

Q: How do you make sure to echo to your team about the importance of keeping the momentum going on this short week against Purdue?

Lanning: “Yeah, the key is for us, is our process shouldn’t change. And again, every every week, we talk about it, regardless of who you’re playing. You know, for us, we’re always playing Oregon and how we can improve and get better. I think our guys are certainly aware of other situations in college football. It’s what makes this sport so great and hard, so that you got to go out there and earn it every Saturday, every weekend, Friday this week, and that starts with your preparation during the week.”

Q: What have you seen from the Boilermakers offense after the change at OC?

Lanning: “Well, they certainly added some new wrinkles this past game. I know Coach Walters is a phenomenal coach and does a really good job, but what they’ve been able to do and how they were able to utilize Ryan Browne in the run game created a lot of different issues. And when there’s a coaching change, you’re trying to evaluate, okay, who you’re going to see, what’s going to carry over from the previous offense, what’s different and new now. So that’s part of our job to kind of figure that out, but they certainly present some new challenges, and will make it tough for us on Friday.”

Q: What did you see from Ryan Browne’s first start?

Lanning: “Yeah, he’s a good quarterback. You know a really impressive quarterback. Young guy, you know, had good command of the system and what they were trying to accomplish. So definitely create some challenges.”

Q: Was the 12 man penalty intentional?

Lanning: “It wasn’t one on one. We actually had a safety on top, so it’s called dog, is what he played. But he wasn’t in extremely tight coverage, but he was in dog coverage where he had safety on top of him, and there was a time out before that, we spent an inordinate amount of time on situations. There are some situations that don’t show up very often in college football, but this is one that, obviously, was something that we had worked on. So you could see the result.”

Q: After a big game like Ohio State is it sometimes easier to jump back into work?

Lanning: “I mean, football is fun, football is exciting. So I don’t think it’s hard for us to get back and get to work, but you do have to squeeze a lot of stuff in a short amount of time. And that’s the challenge of making sure you’re still really consistent and thorough with what matters, not putting too much on your players in a short window. But it’s not hard to get excited about going to play football.”

Q: When a team faces an opponent you’ve already faced, how much do you read into that film?

Lanning: “I think the biggest thing is evaluating where they’re at now. What I see right now is a team that’s grown and gotten better and better. I know they’ve given up a few more points this past week than they had so far this season, but they’re continuing to fight. You see a team that’s playing really hard and doing some really good things.”

Q: How important was it for Evan Stewart to have the game he had this past weekend?

Lanning: “I mean, I think I said it after the game, that sometimes you don’t know when your number’s gonna be called. Not every play is designed to go to just one person. But I think Evan did a great job of taking advantage of the opportunities when the ball did get put in his direction, and he had opportunities to go make plays on the ball. There’s been some other moments this year where he probably could have had those opportunities, and maybe the ball just didn’t go his way. So he took advantage of those opportunities, and I certainly expect him to do that in the future.”

Q: How has DL Jaeden Moore kind of carved out a role in this defense?

Lanning: “In practice, Jaeden has always been one of the hardest guys for us to block. He does a really good job in pass rush situations for us. And he’s earned that opportunity with the way that he’s executed practice. So seeing that and having guys being down on a couple guys in certain roles, I think that grew his role, and he’s somebody can take advantage of that.”

Q: What explanation did you get for the illegal man downfield penalty later in the game?

Lanning: “We sent in, and they told us they got it wrong. So, you know, in the game, they told us they got it right.”

Q: Do you get a sense of excitement from the team about traveling to play in a Big Ten environment?

Lanning: “I mean, this is certainly a venue I haven’t been to before. I’m sure our players might feel the same way, but for us, it’s always about focusing on the week that we’re in. So this is an exciting one for us, getting an opportunity again to play on a Friday night, the prime time window, at a place that we haven’t been.”

Q: Do you anticipate Kyler Kasper to return this season?

Lanning: “Yeah, I don’t know the timeline right now. And Kyler, it might be hard to see him back this year but I won’t put limitations on him and his ability to get back.”

Q: What stands out about Kydran Jenkins and Dillon Thieneman on Purdue?

Lanning: “I mean, obviously, 31 (Thieneman) is a guy that can play sideline to sideline. They play their safety a little deeper than some teams traditionally, allows him to really play, almost like a flat foot read player back there that can see the ball and react to the ball. And he’s a really talented player who does a great job of doing that, and finds himself around the ball consistently. 4 (Jenkins) does a great job inside at backer, and then at times, even on the edge, they move them around quite a bit to create matchups. So they do a good job. It’s hard to know exactly what they’re in. They’re probably one of the better defenses at disguising their coverage and what that looks like. So, it definitely presents some challenges there.”

Q: Are there any thoughts about changing the placekicker position?

Lanning: “Yeah, we chart every single day in competitive situations. In our practices, we get a lot of reps at it. You know, Atticus is proven to do a good job in situations given the opportunity, and not always put in the easiest situations to be able to go execute. But the hold wasn’t exactly right for Atticus in that situation, either. So you always have to evaluate the whole picture, and not just a small subset, or seeing it from, you know, the sideline view.”

Q: Who else stands out on Purdue’s offense?

Lanning: “Yeah, I mean, they have a really good tight end. I mean, he’s a really, really talented player. He’s targeted as much as any tight end in the nation. They do a great job moving him around and creating some challenging matchups there. And a lot of run-pass conflict where there’s a run in one direction with an RPO or potential pop pass in another direction. So I think that’s a good challenge from them.”

Q: What did you see from Nikko Reed this past weekend and how much improvement and development has there been for him this year?

Lanning: “Yeah, I think Nikko’s grown a ton. I think he went out there and competed his tail off on Saturday with one of the biggest challenges that he’s been able to face. And you know, there’s moments there that he won and there’s moments that he didn’t win, but what you see is a guy that’s grown and gotten better and better, that we certainly have a level of confidence in, as well as a lot of those other guys in the secondary that are doing a good job.”

Q: Why mess with the battery on place kicking and switch from Ross James to Luke Dunne?

Lanning: “Actually, I mean, Luke’s held all year for us this year, he’s held all year in practice. So it’s not something that’s new or different. He’s done it so far in the season for us. You know, each kicker usually gets comfortable with a certain guy at holder, and they get a lot of reps in practice at it, but we have multiple guys that can do it, and that’s why you do it.”