To the victor belong the spoils, and on Saturday Night, Dan Lanning sent a statement to the college football world with one of the biggest wins of his career. While Lanning has won College Football Playoff games and a Big Ten Championship, on Saturday Night, he put his coaching ability on full display.
The Oregon Ducks lost Dante Moore in the first half of this game, and it could've been easy for the emotions to get the best of this team, but Dan Lanning rallied the troops. With a backup quarterback, Oregon silenced most of a packed crowd, but to the Ducks' credit, there was still a wild bunch getting rowdy.
Dan Lanning took the perfect shot at USC's attendance issues
One of the biggest stories of the season for USC hasn't been their talent ot their success, but the fact that the fans don't care enough to show up to their games. Lincoln Riley and the school have blamed everything from heat to traffic, but on Saturday Night the Coliseum was full.
Dan Lanning made that same observation, and he rightfully took credit for fans finally showing up, and pretending to care about the Trojans.
NEW: Oregon head coach Dan Lanning takes a shot at USC's crowd:
— On3 (@On3) September 27, 2026
"I've watched three of their TV games. I haven't seen a game packed yet, but we were here, it was packed tonight. So I guess when the Ducks show up, that's how you fill up the Coliseum."
(h/t @jordan_mendoza5)… https://t.co/MfiCYy0CzX pic.twitter.com/UbPfIaeGP1
USC is a once proud program that's now become a school built on making excuses, and coaches like Dan Lanning are able to expose it. Lincoln Riley continues to make excuses for the lack of attendance and makes bold claims like that a championship window finally opened for USC ahead of this season. On Saturday Night, Dan Lanning slammed that championship window on Lincoln Riley's head and laughed at all the excuses.
Dan Lanning and the Ducks easily could've been the team that left this game with all the excuses in the world as the road team that lost their superstar quarterback. Instead, Dan Lanning took his backup quarterback and went to war, knocking off a USC team that swore this was the year they were going to get over the hump.
The attendance issues don't boil down to the heat or traffic in Los Angeles, they just reflect the sentiment for the program USC has built. Lincoln Riley makes every excuse for why the Trojans haven't accomplished anything under his leadership, making it easy for the fans to make every excuse not to show up.
Teams like Oregon don't care about your excuses, and they couldn't care less about the championship windows you claim are open. On Saturday Night, one team showed up and crushed the Trojans' hopes and made sure the fans in the stands saw the stark differences between the programs.
Add us as a preferred source on Google