Oregon Ducks College Football Pregame Quote, 10/07/2024

Opening statement:

Lanning: “All right, big game here. We are certainly excited for this opportunity. Really, first off, want to tell our fans again how grateful we are for this past weekend. Thought the atmosphere was unbelievable for the Michigan State game. A lot of things, we were able to go back and kind of evaluate and thought our team played well in a lot of ways, but certainly some opportunities for us to clean up some things. But getting to play a great opponent this week. Strong in all three phases as a team, when you watch them and you really don’t see a weakness, they’re really strong across the board, and this will be a great challenge for us. And I know our fans will be great again this weekend, so that’ll make that a fun atmosphere for us.”

Q: What are the challenges of preparing for Ohio State’s offense?

Lanning: “Yeah, I think it’s, similar to what I’ve talked about, you know, with our team, and what we hope that we can be is you can’t take away one thing, knowing that, you know something else is a strength as well, right? And they’re not really limited in what their strengths are. They’re able to run the ball really well. They’re able to throw it well. Talented at multiple positions. You know, quarterback can run the ball as well. So there’s a lot of things that present threats, and I think you have to be sound in everything you come up with, you know, be aware of any risk that you’re going to be taking, and when is that risk worth it or not, and be able to play sound football.”

Q: What have you seen from Chip Kelly at Ohio State?

Lanning: “Well, I think he’s always done a great job of utilizing his personnel. Moving guys around and allowing them to do things that they do really, really well. He always finds unique ways to run the ball. I think that’s, you know, one thing that he probably doesn’t get enough credit for is his ability to run the ball regardless of the situation. You know, he’s at UCLA last year, the number one rushing team in our conference for many reasons, and it’s because of his ability to run the ball. But he does a great job utilizing personnel, keeping on your toes, changing the tempos, creating unique formations that you’ve never seen on film before. So you always have to prepare for something you haven’t really prepared for.”

Q: What makes Ohio State’s defense unique and how have they been able to achieve the results they’ve had so far?

Lanning: “They limit explosive plays, right? They do a great job keeping the ball in front. They play really physical in the front. You know, they’re able to stop the run. They’re really sound and aggressive at times in coverage, but they pitch a lot of different looks at you as well. But it starts with they eliminate explosive plays. They play really sound football. They have good overlap in their defense. They’re able to change the picture up. They have, you know, really good D lineman, good edges, and then they’re able to cover, you know, outside, so they create a lot of challenges there.”

Q: Has Chip Kelly’s legacy still resonated with the program to now?

Lanning: “Yeah, I remember the teams that he had here. I think everybody respects him as a football coach, and certainly the things that he was able to accomplish while he was here.”

Q: What do you see from Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka?

Lanning: “Yeah, stop go. You know, they can catch the ball and they can turn into a big play right away. You know, it’s not necessarily always their average depth of target is way down the field. It’s their ability to catch it in space and get vertical. They block really, really well on the perimeter. And those guys have big catch radius. So you see them win on balls that you can you call 50-50 balls. A lot of times they win on contested balls, they do a really good job there.”

Q: You’ve played in plenty of top-five matchups, is there any consistent trait you have to coach in these type of matchups?

Lanning: “I’d say winning football is winning football. But I think you always look when you’re playing an opponent, you know, what’s some commonalities in games that they haven’t had success in and that you’ve had success in? Right? Where are those places where you can find strengths? What are the pieces of the game that are going to matter the most? Obviously, explosive plays and takeaways is always something that we focus on here. But, rushing game, I think that matters. You know, the ability to win on critical downs in critical situations, red area, I think, are all really important.”

Q: How has the ‘Oregon vs. Oregon’ mindset prepared them for this moment?

Lanning: “I think just the constant growth, the focus on what can we get better if we attack the things that we need to improve on? That’s been our focus all year. And, you know, throughout the season, I think you’ve seen us play better and better ball in certain situations and attack things that we weren’t as good at the week before.”

Q: Does having knowledge of Ohio State’s running backs coach give you any advantage this week?

Lanning: “I think that probably plays both ways. I think last week, we played against coaches that have been here before. When we played UCLA, we played against coaches have been here before. It makes you change your terminology, like you’re going to change the names of calls. Stuff before that might have been a run for us is maybe now a pass. Something was going right is now maybe going left. But that’s pretty easy for our players to do once you communicate that and change it. Certainly he knows some of the things that we like to do. On the same note, we certainly like know some of the things that he likes to do. So Coach Lock did a great job for our program. He’s doing a great job for theirs now.”

Q: What are some of the ways you can improve on your red zone offense this week?

Lanning: “Yeah, you play red area football, right? You put it down there, put the ball inside the 20, and you go communicate. Well, what do we want that to look like? And if you expect to see it in the game, you got to see it in practice first. And he knows he wants those plays back. You know, that’s that’s doesn’t take anybody you know, special to recognize that, that he wants that back. But it’s about, how can we coach that better and make sure that those situations are avoided.”

Q: How much more confident are you and the defensive staff as a whole in the CB2 spot?

Lanning: “I’m confident in our players. I like our team. I like the guys that we get the opportunity to go out there and play with. I think our guys play competitive ball. This will certainly be the best challenge for every single position on our team this week.”

Q: What do you think has been the biggest change in the offensive line that makes you feel confident heading into Saturday?

Lanning: “I think a lot of pieces add up to that. You know, timing, scheme is part of that. How we’ve adjusted some of the things that we do, I think is a big part of that. And then the communication between the offensive line and the quarterback has also been really important there.”

Q: What have you seen specifically from Emeka Egbuka and the challenges he presents?

Lanning: “Yeah, they got more than just two great wideouts. They got several great wideouts in their program. Certainly, those two are very, very special. But you know, whether it’s Tate, I mean, there’s, there’s a bunch of them on their team that can go play winning football. So that’s what makes this a challenge. You can’t just say, ‘Okay, I’m gonna focus on this one guy,’ because there’s other guys on the field that can beat you.”

Q: Do you use the chaos and upsets in CFB to your team to show why it’s important to be focused on a game to game basis?

Lanning: “I think our players are really aware of that. Our messaging doesn’t change necessarily. We you know, that’s been something that’s been consistent for us through fall camp, that it’s about the guys in our room and what we’re able to focus on, not what everybody else is talking about.”

Q: What were your memories of College GameDay coming to town in 2022?

Lanning: “I think more than anything, that day, I remember our fans and how much of an impact I felt like they had on that game. How fun that environment was for our players to get to be a part of. Obviously you come to a place like Oregon to play in big time games, and this is one of those opportunities, but to get to be a part of big-time atmospheres as well. And certainly, this is one of those.”

Q: What’s the key to getting more consistency in your RB2 or RB3?

Lanning: “Yeah, just that, consistency. Continue to find, you know, opportunities to be able to block up runs properly for those guys and give them opportunities to win on the second level.”

Q: What do you see from Will Howard and the effectiveness he’s brought? Does it help to have Kobe Savage on this defense for this matchup?

Lanning: “Similar to these other teams that we’ve played that have had guys crossed over. I think again, they do a great job schematically of finding, you know, completions. If you’re loading up hats in the in the run game, there’s going to be some guys that are open outside. They’ve done a good job of throwing into open windows and attacking that.”

Q: Do you feel like this matchup might be the most anticipated in Oregon history?

Lanning: “I certainly can’t speak to the entire history of Oregon. I think this is a really big game. I think it’s a great opportunity for two great teams to get to play against each other again. I think that’s why you come to a place like this. But I think this will be an awesome atmosphere for our fans and certainly our players.”

Q: Going back to the Michigan State game, did you ever get an answer on why the hit on Dillon Gabriel wasn’t called a late hit?

Lanning: “We sent it in. I haven’t got a response yet on why it wasn’t one. I was told that the guy was watching and said that it wasn’t, so we sent it in. We’ll see what it looks like.”

Q: What’s Jurrion Dickey done to get some run?

Lanning: “Part of it starts with him being healthy. He’s been dinged up at times, but he’s practicing really hard. He’s working his tail off to be on the field for us, whether that’s in special teams, or in a role wide out, and it’s created some opportunities for him.”

Q: What makes Ohio State’s running back duo unique?

Lanning: “Yeah, maybe a little different, but on the same token, they are guys that have good size and speed and they don’t go down first contact. They’re really good at using their weapons, as far as at the second level. They do a good job with stiff arms, but they rarely, rarely go down on first contact. And they have really good vision, and they’re patient until that opportunity window opens up. But when they see a hole, they hit it, and they hit it with great speed.”

Q: How has Ohio State’s defense limited explosive plays through the air this season?

Lanning: “I think that’s the piece they do a good job defensively of not creating conflict, of avoiding conflict, and their guys do a good job of farming their own land, not worrying about what somebody else is doing, but doing their job and being sound in their job. There’s times where those safeties are high and they’re responsible for the deep part of the field, and they let the corners fit the run. There’s times when they’re guys, they’re responsible for the run fit, and then those corners do a great job of covering downfield. So they do a good job of changing that up and guys doing their job.”