Dan Lanning and the No. 1 Oregon Ducks are just over a week away from the Rose Bowl Game and their first berth to the College Football Playoffs together. As Lanning and his team prepare to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes, once again, the Oregon head coach spoke at a virtual press conference ahead of the game.
Ohio State head coach Ryan Day took his turn first and as soon as Lanning appeared on camera, you could tell the Ducks' head coach was excited for the upcoming matchup. Here is everything Lanning said during the Rose Bowl Game press conference on Monday, Dec. 23:
Dan Lanning on playing in the Rose Bowl vs. Ohio State:
"Yeah, we're extremely excited about getting to play against a great opponent in Ohio State. You know, I think that's a great representation of what the Big Ten is capable of.
"Having these two teams with the opportunity to face off in the Granddaddy of them all. So, we're super excited; our players, our staff, certainly myself about getting this opportunity at the Rose Bowl."
Dan Lanning on Oregon's position in the bracket and preparing for the rematch:
"Super excited, right? Getting the opportunity to play great teams, that's what it's about. This time of the year, when you play great teams, that gives you some extra motivation to go work really hard, to be prepared, and ready to be out there on the field.
"So, obviously Ohio State is a great team and the path to the end is tough which is exciting for our team and certainly for me."
Dan Lanning on the lengthy season:
"I think the real challenge in there has been for me; to make sure I'm keeping our players fresh and our team ready but our guys are really up to the mental challenge.
"We've got a mature team, I've been really proud of how they've prepped all season. They've kind of attacked every single day and put a lot of trust in our coaching staff, our sports science department, our strength staff, that we're gonna have the right plan for them.
"I'm proud to say that several of our players are hitting some of their highest testing numbers this year. We have guys hitting PRs in the weight room. I think that's unique at this point in the season but it speaks to how we've been able to adapt and adjust some of our performance stuff throughout the year to make sure we continue to stay fresh."
Dan Lanning on developing his head coach style:
"Winning. I wanna be one of those guys that wins and I hope that I'm a guy that's known as not the same coach today as I was yesterday. I hope I continue to grow. We always ask our players to improve, to get better, and that's the same challenge that I have for myself.
"I hope that I play to our team's strengths. I hope that I make sure that I let our players win it on the field and have success out there on the field. Again, I hope that I'm not the same coach 10 years from now that I am today. If I continue to get better and our team continues to improve then I think we'll have the best result possible on the field."
Dan Lanning on Jordan Burch being available for the game:
"Just his size and athleticism. God doesn't make a lot of people that look like Jordan Burch. You know, I mean, I think when people see him they're surprised to hear he's almost 300 pounds because he looks really good at his size.
"But, he plays like a beast on the field. I mean, relentless effort and the fact that we have great depth, several guys that can play the edge position for us, it allows us to make sure that when he's on the field, he's fresh. A fresh Jordan Burch is really dangerous."
Dan Lanning on the JUCO injuction changing players' eligibility:
"You know, I haven't put a lot of focus on it right now. I think there's a time for that. I don't think it'll be as easy as people maybe read into but again that really hasn't been my focus right now and I don't think it's really been most players' focus either. So, we'll cross the bridge when we get there and if there's an ability to create that or not, we'll see"
Dan Lanning on playing Ohio State twice:
"You said you were from Columbus? So, you said you want our game plan is kind of what you're saying? Yeah, we're gonna do the exact same thing. Every play, first call. No, we're gonna look at what worked, what didn't work, you look at how you're team's changed and you try to play again to your strengths.
"You look at how your opponent's team changed, so, there's gonna be some differences in this game from the last game, for sure."
Dan Lanning on Will Howard as a quarterback:
"Well, I think he has good size, obviously, he's a big body and it's hard to get down. More than that, I think he's built a lot of confidence in the guys he's able to throw the ball to. Even some confidence in the quarterback run game. I think you see him utilized a little bit more in the QB run game later in the season.
"He does a good job of throwing a lot of good balls. He certainly did a good job of throwing good balls the other night, you know, down the field and was able to target those wideouts for explosive plays down the field. So, he's playing really good football right now, certainly played really good football against Tennessee.
Dan Lanning on how Ohio State has changed:
"I won't really get into the differences but they're a really good team. I don't know if there's a more talented team in the nation. Obviously, they've got great weapons outside at wideout and across the board, their tight end's a big target, their running backs are elite. I think they've settled in with their offensive line and that's really shown up.
"Then, defensively, they play with relentless effort. They've got talent across the board at really every position. Schematically, they pitch a lot of different things to you, on both sides of the ball, that stress you. The ability to play with tempo at times at offense and then slow it down and come out of a huddle. The shifts in motion, all those things show up.
Dan Lanning on the Ducks nearing their target production:
"I think our best game that we've played, just overall, was probably our Washington game, just in all three phases. I think we've gotten better at different things with each group and each side of the ball throughout the season but at moments we've certainly showed our ability to play really good football.
"I think you could probably argue that Ohio State's best game was the game that they just played so, you know, it's important at this point in the year that you're playing really good football and sometimes you don't know that until you step on the field. That's your job as a coach is to get ready for those moments, get your players ready for those moments, but certainly hope we put our best foot forrward when we play in this Rose Bowl."
Dan Lanning on looking back at the first game vs. Ohio State:
"You've got the time to do it so you do all of it. You look at the history of the team, you look at the history of the coordinators. This is kind of unique in it gives you more time to evaluate big picture, you know, just coordinator philosophies and also the original matchup, what that looks like and then what they've done since. So, I don't think you'd necessarily focus on one of those things, I think you'd focus on all of that."
Dan Lanning on Dillon Gabriel's running ability vs. Ohio State:
"I think it's important for Dillon to be able to take what's there and at times, those are gonna be times where he makes those plays with his legs when they're gonna be in coverage. At times that means he's gonna be able to throw the ball. Dillon's proven that throughout the year, that he can do both."
Dan Lanning on keeping track of timeouts, situations, etc. during a close game:
"Well one, you hope that you have your timeouts there and you're able to utilize them. We have planned when we wanna call that third time out, when we wanna call the second time out, when we wanna call the last time outs. So, for us, that's kind of something that we do consistently throughout the season, throughout practice.
"Creating those situations in practice and evaluating, you know, there's an ideal time for us in each one of those situations when to utilize the timeouts and when to utilize the ability to get out of bounds or when to use the two-minute warning. So, we kind of have the played out in our minds, scripted in our minds so everybody's on the same page of when we'd like to use those."
Dan Lanning on the 'next man up mentality' from Ohio State:
"They've done a really good job. Obviously, they have really good players and they won several games last year with some of the guys in the positions they're playing now. So, I think being able to shuffle and put guys where you need to be able to put them and create the continuity is really important and they've been able to create that."
Dan Lanning on recruiting in Oregon:
"I don't know that the strategy necessarily changed, I think it's about identifying the right people that are comfortable going where the best fit might be and not the most convenient. That's something that we kind of consistently preach when we're evaluating talent that can come here and help us. It's, 'Are you looking for the best opportunity or are you looking for the easiest opportunity and the most convenient opportunity?'
"And you know, in our program we talk about sacrifice. Sometimes you sacrifice distance for the right place, the right fit, the right place where you're going to develop and we've had a lot of success doing that."
Dan Lanning on traveling to Pasadena before the Rose Bowl:
"Yeah it's a little different. We'll get there a little earlier than we would normally get there for a game just because of the requirements of the bowl. But ultimately, we would like to get there as close as we can to a normal game week.
So, we'll probably be in a similar mindset to as far as getting as many practices in as we can here on campus and then going there later in the week."
Dan Lanning on winning different ways throughout the year:
"I think it's been really important for us, for our team, to realize that we can win in a lot of different ways and with that piece, knowing that if you can put all three phases together and you play your best football, you can have a lot of success. So, football games come in a lot of different ways and being able to be a team that can win it in a lot of different ways si important for us."
Dan Lanning on Dillon Gabriel's calm demeanor:
"I think you said it. I've been really impressed with Dillon's poise. It doesn't matter if there's just a couple seconds left on the clock or if it's 4th & 9, I feel like he treats those plays the same as 1st & 10 or the beginning of the game. So, he's able to stay as cool as the back side of the pillow in big moments and it certainly paid off for us."
Dan Lanning on the biggest takeaways from Oregon's first game vs. Ohio State:
"Yeah, you know, I think big moments and big games like this always come down to critical situations. I think we have to continue to make sure we can execute on third down on both sides of the ball. Have success in the red area, turn those into touchdowns when we're in those moments offensively and eliminate touchdowns when we're in those moments defensively.
"Special teams play I think is always really big in these games. Like you said, that last game came down to the very final seconds so not taking anything for granted and making sure that every play counts. The next play is the most important is really important for us."
Dan Lanning on going 4-0 in one-score games:
"A ton, it matters, the details matter in those moments and very similar to what we were just talking about with Dillon, you've got to have poise and composure in those moments. Be able to visualize what success looks like in those moments and hope that you've recreated those moments within practice and situations throughout the season so you know you can go execute."