The time Dan Lanning put Skip Bayless in a locker, revealing something crucial about the Ducks

The past isn't prologue. It isn't even past.

Dan Lanning has always been the same guy, and the way he went after Mike Gundy's team and used Gundy's comments as motivation was something that was foreshadowed in his first two years as Oregon coach.

Back in 2023 after Oregon beat Colorado 42-6, Skip Bayless called out certain white coaches for the way they targeted Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes.

The media personality and speak-first, speak-loud gadfly said then on his Fox talk show "Undisputed," “I’ve tried to tell you guys for two weeks there is a deep-rooted, venomous vengeance that is starting to manifest itself against Deion among white coaches."

Bayless left the show abruptly in August 2024, amid low ratings and tensions with cohost Shannon Sharpe. In 2025 Bayless and the Network settled an alleged sexual battery and suit involving studio hair stylist Noushin Faraji.

When reporters asked Lanning about the Bayless brouhaha, the way the Ducks poured it on the Buffaloes and his fiery pregame speech ("The Cinderella Story stops now." "They're playing for clicks. We're playing for wins.") Lanning had a ready answer.

“I don’t know Skip at all. I’ve never had a conversation with him,” Lanning told reporters. “I’ve watched him enough to know how often he gets it wrong, so that sounds about right. But, ultimately, here’s what I say. We’re playing to win the game. You saw a 15-second clip from a window outside the house of what happens in a locker room. I know our locker room. I’m in the house 100% of the time. I know how our players felt going into that game—and I know what it takes to motivate our players.

“That’s my job, to motivate our players. He has a job. I have a job, too. But inside that house, they felt a certain way. They felt a certain way about a group stomping on the O. They felt a certain way about guys talking to ’em in the pregame. I’m proud of those guys because what they decided to do is talk with their pads. They didn’t want to do anything extra afterwards. They wanted to talk with their pads and they did that on Saturday.”

This is old news, something that happened 24 wins ago. Autzen Zoo presents it now because Saturday Dan Lanning and the Ducks went after Mike Gundy and Oklahoma State in the same way.

Lanning said after the OSU game,
"It never requires extra motivation for an opportunity to go out and kick ass. But it never hurts when somebody pours gasoline on the fire."

It's clear that an opposing coach never wants to do anything to put that gleam in Lanning's eye; not then, not now. It's also clear that the Ducks don't need it. The motivational tricks provide juice, but they have plenty of juice without it.

The "Ducks vs Them" video series has shown Oregon fans that every Monday Lanning has a theme and a focus for his team, a central image and concept to guide their preparation. Offensive guard Emmanuel Pregnon revealed Tuesday that this week's theme is "Be a fire starter." Pregnon has embraced it.

Saturday against the Cowboys, the Ducks scored two long touchdowns on their first three plays. They ran five "deceptives" plays that showed the opponent one thing and then hit them in the mouth with another, in their first 27 plays.

This team doesn't merely win games. It comes for your soul. They don't talk about it much, but the loss in the Rose Bowl infused this program with the spirit of a vendetta and a long memory. Every week they're ready to punch someone in the mouth.

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