What makes Oregon unique and successful in college football is not fancy buildings, NIL and recruiting dollars (the stuff that gets all the attention) but the laser-sharp focus on the mental side of the game.
Duck fans get a glimpse of it in the weekly "Ducks vs Them" cinematic recaps. Each week Dan Lanning has a theme for his team, a lesson to focus their preparation and unite the squad in one goal.
Those lessons aren't haphazard-- Lanning sits down before the season with Cory Shaffer, a sports psychologist from Greenville, South Carolina, director of performance consulting with a company called AMPLOS. Shaffer and Lanning met when the coach was defensive coordinator at Georgia.
Together they form a plan for each weekly lesson and Shaffer develops the slide decks that the Oregon head coach presents to the team, like the images from "Gladiator" that became the unifying message "Are you not entertained?" from the Michigan game last year.
Last week before the Northwestern game Lanning told his team, "Warriors dictate the environment. This game is about us as warriors going in and dictating the environment. We don't need any special music. We don't need 100k (fans in the stands.) We need a stage, we need a field to go out and execute."
The Oregon staff doesn't just train the players' bodies and teach them football techniques, they train their minds. Lanning understands that in a sport where the physical edges can be small, the connection and focus of a team makes all the difference.
With Shaffer's help, they've taken psychology off the couch and made it a powerful and practical tool. Mindset sets expectations. Visualizing success lets a player see and understand how to create it. It doesn't guarantee the Ducks will win every game or overcome every bit of adversity; it just prepares them to get the most out of their potential.
Working with Spencer Strider, a Clemson pitcher recovering from an injury who went on to win a NL-leading 20 games with the Atlanta Braves in 2023, Shaffer told him, "You are a blank canvas,. There is a massive opportunity in front of you."
There's a massive opportunity in front of the Ducks.
As the season progresses Lanning adapts the lessons and presentations to where the team is at that point of the season. Before the Big Ten Championship last December he told Yogi Roth of the Big Ten Network, "You've got to be able to read your team and adjust."
What makes Oregon's approach doubly effective is that it comes out of a cohesive philosophy. "The best teams are player-led teams," Lanning has said. The staff strives to create connection and trust within the program, players and coaches.
Roth said, "The most connected teams they show up at their best when times of adversity show themselves."
Watch an Oregon game, even a blowout, and witness the genuine joy that flows in this group, the way the players greet each other after a reserve comes off the field after making a big play, the passion and enthusiasm this team has. That's been cultivated, in exercises, meetings, team social events.
When A'Mauri Washington's partner had a baby, Bear Alexander organized a baby shower for him, and the whole team attended.
Leadership is shared in this group, and it takes many forms. One constant is the commitment among all of them to pursuing a vital question, "What could I have done better?"
"The culture of the program: What could I have done better?"@CoachUrbanMeyer explains how a never-settle mentality defines @OregonFootball’s culture and fuels its success 👇 pic.twitter.com/UweOKXVags
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) September 19, 2025
This Saturday the Ducks are playing a game where they are favored by five touchdowns. Next week they'll play in a tense, high-pressure game on national television before 106,000 raucous fans. The mindset training and teaching they employ every week, the fierce bonds they have formed as a group, prepare them to adapt to each environment.
They may not go undefeated, but the teaching prepares them to focus every ounce of energy on performing their best. It's a championship mindset, learning to play to the limits of your ability while striving always to expand them.
On every level, the Ducks cultivate success through brotherhood like a well-tended garden. It's part of why those weekly videos are so compelling, getting to witness a bit of how it came to be.