No. 6 Oregon defeated No. 16 Oregon State 31-7 Friday night at Autzen Stadium.
Dan Lanning recapped the 11th win of the season for the Ducks (11-1, 8-1 Pac-12), who clinched a berth in the Pac-12 Championship game and a rematch with No. 4 Washington.
Below is a transcript of Lanning’s press conference.
DAN LANNING
Opening Statement:
“That was a fun one right there. I’ve said since the beginning of the season that I want to be playing our best football at the end of the season and we are right now. We’ve got a really good team. We went out there and competed, we wanted to be the more physical team tonight and I think that showed up. I think, obviously, anyone watching us can say that we have some really special players on our team, including our quarterback. He was dialed and on point tonight. I thought our coaches did a great job of preparing these guys and getting them ready to go. That crowd and our student section were unbelievable, so we’re going to need them to show up next week in Vegas. I told these guys earlier in the season that every one of your goals is still in front of you and I saw a team that for the past several weeks said, ‘We’re just going to work,’ and they just did that. They put all of their goals in front of them and focused on one day at a time and that’s what showed up tonight.”
On setting the tone with the first drive:
“I thought they were just really efficient. Taking what’s in front of them. I am really proud of those guys and how they executed. I wasn’t anticipating us having a lot of those eight-minute drives, I didn’t think it would look like that. Our guys had a great plan and they executed that plan really well.”
On the run defense:
“Making sure we didn’t have any one-for-ones. They drew up on offense, where if they block you then your middle-field safety or high safety is the only guy left then you are going to gain five yards. We knew we had to strike blocks and separate from blocks and win those one-on-one battles. Then when you make contact they have to be knockback tackles, which I thought our guys did a good job of.”
On Bo’s (Nix) throw to Troy (Franklin) before the half:
“I think you can say there were a lot of throws tonight that were really special. That was certainly one of them, I know he had pressure in his face on a big third-down conversion.
He was dialed in tonight and did a good job executing. Those wideouts did a great job of attacking the ball, being able to score, with I believe 54 seconds left at half. That’s exactly why we call timeouts at the end, so we can have the ball back and an opportunity to go score. So I am really proud of those guys putting that drive together.”
On getting another opportunity to play Washington:
“I think every player in that locker room knew what was in front of us and we knew we didn’t get there if we didn’t do a good job of focusing on the task at hand. That is really what it has been about. It has been about that each day, each week, and each moment. Tomorrow isn’t going to be about Washington either, it is going to be about the Ducks and what we can do tomorrow to be better. We have kept the focus on us and what is in front of us, and we know we have to play good teams to get to where we want to be. Again, playing our best ball and how can we get better. We talk about a growth mindset in this program. I think a lot of guys think, ‘how can I improve? How can I get better?’”
On Dontae (Manning’s) performance:
“I am really proud of the way he played tonight. Every time I looked out there, he was stuck on somebody and that’s what you want. We ask our guys to play some aggressive coverages at times and we put those guys on islands, and he performed really well tonight. He competed for the ball when it was in the air. Obviously, that turnover was a huge play and there were a couple of aggressive penalties in there that we want to go coach, but that is going to happen at times when you ask guys to play those coverages.”
On playing a complete game:
“I thought that was a complete game. We didn’t want their returner to get an opportunity on special teams. I thought we were able to flip the field when we had to punt the ball. There were certainly some moments in every phase that we wanted to take back, but offensively being three-for-three on the first few drives. I know we ended up kicking a field goal in one of those but to start out hot and to keep that momentum rolling was really impressive.”
On holding OSU to so few points after last year’s result:
“Yeah, it’s not really about them. It’s really about our players and them owning the standard that exists for us. They were motivated coming into this game to put together a great performance, and it’s really about building off the last performance we had and it’s going to be about building into the next one. They certainly take a lot of pride about it, they’ve certainly been reminded this last week of what last year looked like, and they didn’t want to replicate that.”
On elevating their game to play their best at the end of the year:
“It starts in practice. It starts in practice and preparation. It starts with our coaches having great answers for what the opponent does and being able to attack it. It starts with our players having an elite level of focus in meetings. When those things show up in practice, when you practice a certain way, when you prepare a certain way that preparation is going to equal separation in the game, and that showed up today.”
On this being a complete game in the context of last year’s OSU matchup:
“Yeah, I’m really proud of our guys and I’m really proud of the way they performed. I know we didn’t want to come in here and have a three-quarter performance, we wanted four quarters and playing until the zeros were up on the board, and our guys did that tonight.”
On Gary Bryant’s injury:
“I haven’t gotten to visit with the medical staff yet, but I caught him right when he came off the field and he felt like he was going to be okay, but obviously still have to get an update.”
On Matayo (Uiagalelei) sacking his brother DJ (Uiagalelei):
“Hit him harder. Matayo did a great job tonight, I know this was a fun one for him. I’ve got a lot of respect for that team we just played. That’s a really good football team that plays a brand of football that’s hard to match. To see him get an opportunity to get out and play on that stage was great.”
On having a growth mindset and balancing that with celebrating clinching a spot in the Pac-12 championship game:
“You know it’s hard to celebrate in this profession when you’re always focused on what’s next. I expected us to be here. I don’t really know what everyone else thought, but I expected us to be in this position because I know what our team’s capable of. We still have some unfinished business, we want to go out there and compete and put our best foot forward. Excited about what’s next, but we’re going there for an opportunity to play in a big-time game and perform our best.”
On Jeffery Bassa’s performance and what he’s capable of:
“I’ll have to go back and watch the film, but Jeff’s a really good player. He’s intentional, he watches a ton of film, he studies the quarterback’s mannerisms, he’s dialed into what the cadence is going to look like. I thought he executed at a high rep tonight, but I’ll have to go back and watch it.”
On Bo’s final performance at Autzen Stadium and what you make of it:
“Elite. I thought our quarterback was elite tonight. Even the moments that he wasn’t protected he made big-time plays for us, which was huge.”
On how special reaching Pac-12 Championship is in its final season:
“Well, it’s fun for your team to reach your expectations and play to a level that you think they can play, and I thought our team did that tonight. We’re certainly excited to be representing the Pac-12 in this conference championship game, that’s going to be a lot of fun for us, but we want to go and perform a certain way as well.”
On curl concepts working well and if they saw that on film:
“It was probably a combination of things that we do well and things that we saw fit based on the coverages they were playing, but I thought our quarterback did a great job of taking what was there and our wideouts. A lot of those routes are reads so it’s based on the leverage of the DB and they can adjust their route based on what kind of leverage they get.”
On how a film session would go with Bo after an 80-plus percentage completion game:
“Bo will be his hardest critic and that is what makes Bo special. He is going to go back and look at all those plays he could have had or should have had and fight to find a way to make sure that it happens, and that’s why he’s playing at such a high level right now and he’s a coach out there on the field. When you have that mindset of how can I get better, that’s how you improve.”
On continuing to play the Oregon State rivalry game:
“I’m not involved in those decisions, but I would love to play this team. I think it’s a great rivalry for the state of Oregon and would certainly love to keep it going. If we have to put the ball out in the parking lot that is fine with me.”
On the advantages are of having a full, normal week next week:
“I think the biggest advantage is that it gets us back to a normal week. Last week wasn’t a normal week. We had made some adjustments, you kind of lose the Monday prep day. We have to fill a lot into a small window, and with this, we can get back into sync with what a typical week looks like.”
On how he thinks the team handled the emotions and the noise:
“The emotion and passion is extremely important, but execution is more important. It is all about channeling that energy. Every one of our guys wants to go out there and have a great performance. Our guys were playing for more than themselves, they were playing for the seniors, playing for Spencer (Webb), but they realize the best way to have a performance that’s worthy of that praise and honor those people is to go out there and execute. That’s what I am really proud of.”
On how he felt about this being Bo’s last night walking out of the tunnel into Autzen Stadium:
“Yeah, it is hard to put into words how I feel about that guy, our growth together. The opportunity to be able to coach such a special young man, to get to see him before the game started right there, we went out for Senior Day. You know, that guy has a twinkle in his eye. He is the ultimate competitor. He threw a couple passes where I felt like he looked over and winked at me, but maybe that’s just me trying to be in the moment. Bo’s special, man. It has been a lot of fun coaching him. I know we aren’t done yet.”
On how the team has embodied his values of a football team and how he evaluates that:
“Probably look back at our DNA traits. I told the guys right before we took the field, I’ve never seen a more connected team. I’ve never been around a team that is anxious to grow and learn even from wins. I’m excited because I know that when I go into the film session with our guys on Sunday, they are going to except what we say as coaches like we have to improve this, or it is going to hurt us and that’s exciting. I talk about being a tough team and there are moments last year where I felt like these guys needed to bang at practice and we probably weren’t as excited to bang at practice. Now I put them in spiders one day and they ask why we aren’t in shoulder pads, and I think that speaks to their toughness. You talk about what these guys put their bodies through, especially this late in the season, to be able to perform, what they sacrifice from their family, you know Thanksgiving was yesterday and our guys were up here watching film, our guys were up here preparing for that game, our guys didn’t have a Thanksgiving. I’m appreciative of the work that they put in. We’ve talked about how most people don’t love doing hard things and our guy’s love doing hard things and that’s what separates them.”
On how close Jhalil (Florence) and Rodrick (Pleasant) were to playing tonight:
“Time will tell on those guys, but that’s where it really goes back to strength in numbers for us and what that allows us to have is guys that can go out there and compete. We have a lot of guys that can perform on our team that when their number is called, they are ready to answer that bell.”
On the decision to play Evan (Williams) today:
“He is tough and he’s a kid that wants to go out there and play and perform for his team, but we obviously want him to be safe on the field and protect him but I’m not sure that club may have helped him make a couple tackles so we might need to make it a little bigger next week. It’s hard to block a guy that has a big club on their hand.”
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