Dan Lanning talks Oregon-Washington as he looks for his first win over the Huskies

It's Husky Hate Week and the Oregon Ducks are looking to move to 12-0 as they prepare to take on the Washington Huskies. Maybe the most important part of the game is that Oregon head Dan Lanning is looking for his first win over Washington since taking over the Ducks in 2022.

So far in his head coaching career, Lanning has gone 0-3 against Washington, with two losses to the National Championship-bound Huskies last season.

Now, the Ducks are standing on top of the rankings and have the dominant quarterback, the best defensive backs, and the head coach that everyone wants on their sidelines. Here is everything that head coach said about the upcoming matchup:

Dan Lanning on playing vs. Washington at Autzen Stadium

“Hope our fans are excited to make an impact. This will be a fun game for us. I think we had a really good first practice here today; kind of hopping into Washington. Certainly, a team that has some talent and really well-coached team. I got a lot of respect for coach [Jedd] Fisch and the job that he’s done, and have had an opportunity to go against him before and think he always does a good job with his team. I think you can see that with this group here.”

Dan Lanning on coaching vs. Jedd Fisch in the past

“I think they’ve always done a good job of adapting the personnel they have and taking advantage of it. But you see things that cause stress on both sides of the ball. And it’s obviously it’s a different defense now that they’re running at Washington, but they still cause stress. They make it tough for you to game plan because they have answers within their scheme. And again, they make an impact out there on the field.”

Dan Lanning on Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr.

“Yeah, he is a guy that can operate. He has great athleticism, but he can make great throws as well; I think you see that show up. I don’t see a huge change in their system; they’re both guys that can operate the system. I think he just becomes a threat from a run game standpoint, what he can do with his legs. He’s very athletic. You have to be aware of where he’s at at all times. Then Rogers as well, has been a guy that’s won a lot of football games and can throw the ball really well too. They do a good job matching their scheme to those guys’ traits and skill set.”

Dan Lanning on Washington running back Jonah Coleman

“I told our team earlier, I think this is as talented a back as we’ve seen besides (Ashton) Jeanty earlier this season. I think they’re both very comparable. He’s a guy, when he gets to the second level he looks for contact. He breaks more tackles probably than anyone else we’ve seen as well. Like, a lot of yards after contact. He’s a great one-cut runner and stop-go. Like, you see acceleration for him at the second level. Really talented player, it’s going to take our best effort to get him on the ground.”

Dan Lanning on not knowing which Washington QB will start

“I think this is a team that’s played multiple quarterbacks throughout the season, so we’ve seen a little bit of both guys and they’ve had times where they’ve actually had both guys out there on the field at the same time. I don’t know that it presents a huge challenge. Either way, we were going to prepare for both because they’ve utilized both throughout the year.”

Dan Lanning on Oregon's Week 13 bye

“First, we just started by looking at ourselves. Evaluating where the areas of that we can improve. What are our strengths? Find ways to build into those strengths. And then getting our legs back, getting ourself back, attacking the weight room. We saw great jumps in our numbers in the weight room this past week, whether it’s our squat power numbers or just our speeds on the field. I think that those are all positives. We’re going to go in this game playing really fresh at the end.”

Dan Lanning on staying motivated ahead of Week 14 game

“It’s always about performance. It’s always about what we’re able to do on the field. Again, I think I’ve said it several times, motivation is overrated. Like our guys happen to want to go out there and execute at a really high level. Since the beginning of the season, we talked about playing our best football at the end of November. Well, we’re there. So this is our opportunity to go play our best football against a good team.”

Dan Lanning on Washington's secondary

“Yeah, really sound. I think they have a great understanding of what the strengths and weaknesses are of every defense that they call. And because of that, they can play into those strengths or weaknesses. And they do a good job changing it up. They change the picture. They can play zone, they can play man. I think that they’re just extremely well coached.”

Dan Lanning on his relationship with Jedd Fisch

“I think anybody that steps out on the field, they want to have opportunities to go win. He’s a competitor. I’m a competitor. But that doesn’t mean you can’t respect the job that he’s done or the success he’s had in his career.”

Dan Lanning on the benefits of a later bye week

“Ultimately, it’s about this game. The next game is the most important game. We prepare very similar to what we would every week. The difference is you have two weeks. The last week was about preparing for ourselves. What can we improve? And then this week’s really going to be about Washington.”

Dan Lanning on Washington receivers Denzel Boston and Giles Jackson

“Great players. And I think we put the ball close to them, they do a great job of attacking it. They have big catch radiuses. Again, you can tell that they’re not guys that you can necessarily leave on an island. They’re going to compete for the ball. It’s somebody that those are guys that we have to be aware where they’re at at all times.”

Dan Lanning on staying focused while being undefeated

“I think any time in college football is the consistency throughout the year of what it takes to be able to win tight games, games that maybe have a little bit bigger, wider spread. But ultimately, being able to play consistent football throughout the season is tough.”

Dan Lanning on Jabbar Muhammad playing vs. his old team

“I’m sure it means a ton. I’m sure it means a ton. In fact, I know it means a ton. But again, I think he knows that it’s more about going out there and executing than anything else.”

Dan Lanning on the Oregon seniors

“It’ll be potentially their last opportunity to play here at Autzen. You want to make sure you send them off the right way. And the later you get in your career, the faster and faster these seasons go and these moments go. And I think that’ll be a surreal moment for all those guys to step on the field, getting an opportunity to enjoy their senior day.

“I’m very proud of those guys. And more than believing in me, I’m really proud of them for believing in themselves and what they could create. This is a player-led team. Those guys have done an unbelievable job of setting our culture and creating what we’ve been able to accomplish so far this season.”

Dan Lanning on Oregon's big recruiting week during the bye

“I think regardless of where bye week is at, it’s about your ability to take advantage of the time that’s allotted to you. If it was earlier, I think we would have tried to do the same thing. But ultimately, we always want to take advantage of every moment. And there’s a little bit of chaos in college football right now with where things fall, whether it’s signing day, whether it’s portal windows, and all those things have changed a lot. I think all of us are learning how to adapt, but you certainly don’t let moments like the bye week go by that you don’t take advantage of that time.”

Dan Lanning on the Oregon-Washington rivalry

“It’s a great opportunity. I think college football rivalries are extremely special. I think that’s one of the things that make this fun: the excitement that surrounds the fans, the alumni, the people who have been a part of games like this for a long time. It means a lot to us, certainly. But ultimately, it is another game. It’s the next game. And you don’t get out there playing with emotion. It’s about execution over emotion. These games are going to have emotion; that’s the way these games are played. But that’s not what’s going to lead to success on the field.”

Dan Lanning on building depth across the board

“I think it’s preparation throughout the year and always thinking about thinking forward with your roster and what that looks like and doing a great job of developing your roster to where, when things happen – we’ve had injuries that have that have happened this year – being in a position to have great players that can go in there and make an impact.”

Dan Lanning on Washington linebacker Carson Bruener

“Active player. I think he’s one of the guys; you talk about great linebacker plays, those guys are able to make the people around him play better. Like, a good quarterback can’t be a good quarterback unless he does a great job of making sure the wideouts are on the same page. I think what you see is you see is a defense that has 11 guys playing the same call at the same time. That sounds easy, but it’s not as easy as it looks at times. You see it as a group that communicates well together, and plays well off of each other, and solves problems. And he’s definitely one of those guys.”

Dan Lanning on Jordan Burch or Marcus Harper II playing vs. Washington

“Yeah, I think time will tell. Just like I’ve always told you guys, when guys are ready to be out there on the field, we’ll see them.”

The No. 1 Oregon Ducks (11-0) and the unranked Washington Huskies (6-5) are scheduled to kick off at 4:30 p.m. PT on NBC.

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