Nothing went right offensively for the Oregon Ducks on Saturday, and a monumental upset brewed and eventually boiled over, as the UCLA Bruins marched into Autzen Stadium and stole a 17-15 win sloppily.
Seven turnovers plagued the Ducks throughout, as did poor quarterback play from Dylan Raiola. Making his first Oregon start, Raiola finished the day completing just 6-of-19 pass attempts for 43 yards, while tossing two interceptions and losing a fumble. Brock Thomas nearly led the Ducks to a late comeback, but that bid also came up short.
Dan Lanning and the Ducks have not put forth an effort this season that looks anything like the national championship contender many believed Oregon could be at the beginning of the season. With such a poor performance
coming off a bye week, Lanning is faced with plenty of questions, starting with the ineptitude of the offense and where the Ducks will go from here at quarterback.
Playoff hopes are dwindling for Oregon, but Lanning's focus is only on the immediate future. Lanning spoke to the media after the game to break down what went wrong, Raiola's performance, and where the Ducks can improve moving forward.
Opening Statment
Dan Lanning: "Obviously, disappointing result. Always want to thank our fans for being outstanding. Obviously, UCLA played a good game. Never been in a situation where we turn the ball over that much and still have an opportunity to have success there in the game. But we weren't successful on offense in any phase tonight. Obviously didn't really get into a rhythm, weren't able to create success there. Everyone could say, 'Well, the defense played better or well enough at times. But you look back at the very first play of the game, you give up an explosive play that turned into three points that drive, and three points is the difference in this game. So we could have been better in all phases. Even though special teams had some good moments, we can be better there.
"You've got to protect the ball, right? And you can coach it, and you can say it, but if it shows up, you're not coaching it well enough. You're not doing a good enough job there. We were atrocious on third down. We didn't have any success on fourth down. Obviously, the very first touchdown, you could say, 'Hey, kick the extra point.' We felt like there was a look that we felt comfortable with. Have to go back and watch it and see why it wasn't there, but that could have been the difference in the game as well. So that's a decision that falls on me. That all being said, there are opportunities all the way down to the end, even with the defense getting a stop there again in the fourth quarter, where you have a chance to have the ball and have success and be able to move it down the field. But we just weren't able to do that well tonight."
Message to Donors and Fans
Question: "You've got a lot of donors who give millions of dollars to this program. What's your message to them and to the people who support this program after a result like this and the way the season has started?"
DL: "My message to everyone that supports this program is: I promise that we're working extremely hard. Their support is appreciated. And their support doesn't guarantee results, just like hard work doesn't guarantee results; we've got to be better. We've got to be. We've got to find a way to be successful. I think you'll see before the season's over with that UCLA has a really good team. Support doesn't just lead to wins, right? There has to be a translation there in the way that you coach and the success that you have on the field. We didn't do that. We didn't do a good enough job tonight. Now, it also points to our history. I think we've had a lot of success here for a long time for good reason. We haven't been in this situation very much, and that's credit to our players and the job that they do. But we can do better.
"Again, to be in that game when you really have no business being in that game with the amount of turnovers that we had, you know, I think that speaks a little bit to the resiliency that we have and the ability that we have to have some success. So there's not a lot of bright spots in a moment like that. The bright spots are that, hey, we get an opportunity to improve, right? And our team did keep fighting, even though the result didn't finish the way that we wanted."
Dylan Raiola
Q: "Is there a way to pinpoint or explain the difference between the passing game in Raiola two weeks ago (against USC) and what we saw today?
DL: "I think that the best message for me would be to go look at the film first and evaluate what that looks like. Anytime that you hold onto the ball and you're not able to get rid of it on your first look, I think last week we were able to get to our first decision quite a bit. There were some times that he was able to hit the pass rush and create successful plays. We weren't able to create that today, but again, when you have third-and-long situations, you're not successful with the run on early downs. It puts you a little bit behind the chains. But we'll have to evaluate what it looked like. Obviously, it wasn't good enough."
Poor Preparation
Q: "You mentioned your program's history and the success you've had in big games in the past. But how is it possible that this season this team has looked so ill-prepared in so many of these big moments?"
DL: "I don't know the answer to say why it's not been great because I think there's been moments and there's been glimpses of where it's got a chance to be really successful. I think that's a good team, again, that we just played that we were in a battle there all the way down to the last series. I felt like this was going to be the game based on our prep, where all three phases really came together, and obviously it didn't with offense today. It's all come together for us quite a bit in the past. It hasn't so far this year. We've got to continue to figure out what that looks like."
Bye Week Woes
Q: "You guys haven't had many losses, but now three of them over the last four years have come immediately after a bye week. Is there something different that's happening when you guys are given this extra week to prepare?"
DL: "Worth evaluating. But I would say in each one of those situations, we've done different stuff each bye week and different ways to prepare. So I thought our prep was good, and obviously it wasn't good enough going into this game because we didn't have success. I think we're going to look at the call sheet and say, 'Hey, there's some stuff that we should have gotten to quicker. Be able to utilize it.' We started to have some success there with some of our two-back run game with Koloi Keli in the backfield in the second half, and then we had a turnover. Ultimately, protecting the ball is what you're going to look back and see this game like: you can't turn the ball over and give a short field to your defense repeatedly, and that happened multiple times. If those things don't happen, which they did, so you can't say that they didn't. But we were playing well enough on special teams, well enough on defense, that we make these guys go long field, and we have a better opportunity. But you can't just turn the ball over at midfield."
Early Gamble
Q: "Why even have the read for a 2-point try that early in a game? I know you're aggressive. It's paid off when it works, and other times it hasn't, and it clearly impacted this game. Why have an early read like that?"
DL: "Yeah, I mean, if they have five guys to the left, it's a play that's going to be successful. The officials stood over the ball longer than anticipated. There are some other things that fall into it, but it was a look that we've been practicing for a long time and had success running. It didn't work today, so obviously it's a bad decision."
QB Situation Moving Forward
Q: "Is it reasonable to expect that Dante will play next week? And if not, did Brock move up the depth chart today? Would you take a look at Brock against Nebraska if Dante's not right?"
DL: "Well, it'd be worth evaluating regardless. It'd be too early to make a decision there, but you have to go back, evaluate the film, evaluate practice, and see what it looks like, and then see where Dante's at."
Booing Crowd
Q: "It was kind of a roller coaster with the home crowd today, with some boos, and then the cheers to lift the team at the end. What did you make of the experience of following along that game?"
DL: "In the moment, you're not really locked into that. You don't feel that. But our fans deserve the best. They pack this place consistently. Week in and week out, they've been unbelievable for us, and they want a better product than what was on the field today. They certainly deserve it."
Playoff Hopes
Q: "You're fighting an uphill battle if you take another loss this season, making the College Football Playoff. What is it like knowing that now you've got to win out to meet the goal that everybody thought you were going to have at the start of this?
DL: "We're fighting an uphill battle now, right? And it's again, you can't look two weeks ahead. You have to look at what's in front of us right now. We don't control our destiny anymore. It's not necessarily just up to us, but we do control how we respond. This is very similar to what I just told our players in the locker room. There are defining moments in a man's life, and how you respond. The way that I want to respond to this is really important to me because I want my three boys to see how I handle this moment. I want our team to see how I handle this moment. It's really easy to fold up. It's really easy to separate and not be tight and connected in these moments; that's not going to be my response. I want our players to see that. But all we control right now is what's in front of us, how we respond tomorrow, how we respond tonight, as we go back and evaluate it, and what's next. You can't worry about 10 weeks down the road. You've got to control what's in front of you right now."
Drew Mehringer
Q: "How do you evaluate the offensive play calling, and is there a scenario where you make a change with the offensive play caller this year?"
DL: "I have to definitely evaluate the game first. Go back and look at it. We didn't have success on offense, so I think you have to look at all things, right? You have to look at all things. Was it the calls? Was it the way we operated in practice? Certainly wasn't the way we operate in the games, but everything has to be up for evaluation."
Motivation
Q: "At the beginning of the season, you guys were obvious national championship contenders. How do you keep that same motivation moving forward?"
DL: "That's not the motivation right now. The motivation right now is for us to get better. And again, those are awesome goals to have, but we're not in the situation where we get to say that's a goal for us right now. The goal for us right now is to continue to improve and get better. We had a tough, tough game today that we weren't successful in, and again it came down to some of the last minutes of that game. But the goal for us is to improve, and what's that look like next week? It's about next week. It's about improving and being better the next week."
Offensive Line
Q: "Coming into the season, you guys felt confident that you could develop the offensive line from within. After losing three guys to the NFL, is it safe to say now that the guys you have just are not ready to play at a high level?"
DL: "I don't know. I mean, in moments we looked really good against a USC team a week ago, and we're able to run the ball effectively at times. I think there's a compilation of things that happened in this game. One, they had a good plan. Our plan wasn't as good. That's part of it. Our players have to play better. We have to coach better. I think that's part of it. I think we all knew that it wasn't going to be the same experience the line that we had this past year, but we felt comfortable. If you look at the history of us developing there at that position and what it's become over time, it's always gotten better towards the end of the season, and it's improved. We've always been one of the better teams in protecting the quarterback. It hasn't been good enough this year, and running the ball, we haven't been as effective this year. All those things tied together. Your passing game complements your run game, right? Your run game complements your pass game and your ability to protect the quarterback. I think we have to look at all that stuff really critically and make sure that we can continue to improve. But the guys we have right now, I love the guys we have in that room. We have to coach them better and give them an opportunity to have success in the field. And they have to be critical of themselves too. They have to look at it and say, 'OK, where am I not good enough? Where can I improve?' And I think we have guys that are self-aware, and if they can attack that, then we can have a better product."
Benching Raiola
Q: "Why not go to Brock earlier with how much Dylan was struggling into that early part of the third quarter?"
DL: "Probably a fair question. You know, in the moment, I think every one of us on offense says that like this is the moment to do it. It didn't necessarily feel like it was before that, but certainly after the last turnover. It was like, 'Hey, we've got to put somebody in there that's going to go have success.' And Brock went in and operated well. You can always go back and say, "Hey, we should have done that earlier.' If you knew that turnover was coming, you would have done that earlier, right? We felt like that's a play that we've seen Dylan make a lot in practice, and he didn't make that play today."
Message to Raiola
Q: "This can be a deflating game for Dylan, considering what he's been through for the year; he broke his leg. Now coming back to this game, what's your message to him so he doesn't lose that hope within himself?"
DL: "I want to go find him right after this meeting. Because I know everyone here will have a lot of things to say about his performance, and ultimately he needs to know that I share some of that performance today. He wasn't good enough today. I think he can acknowledge that, but we didn't prepare him to be good enough today. We didn't put him in positions to have the success that he needs to have, and we need the best version of Dylan moving forward. Two weeks ago, he was phenomenal. And earlier in this year, I think he's received a lot of praise. I think what you always have to recognize is there's going to be a lot of praise in moments, and then there's going to be some negative moments, and probably neither one of them are true. Early in the year, we identified some throws that worked here, but does it really work when you go play a team that's really comparable and a talented team? We didn't get some of those things fixed, and that showed up today.
"But he has to know that we have a team here that's here to support him. We have a coaching staff that's here to support him, and just wants to see him continue to improve and get better, and give him some of his confidence back. Because certainly he's lost some of that today. If he pays too much attention to the news, he's going to lose some more of that, right? If he just goes out there and works and focuses on improvement, then he's got a chance that he can continue to become a good player."
Leadership
Q: "What can you say about the culture and the leadership of this team right now, and the tests that they're going to face over the next 24, 48, 72 hours?"
DL: "It's about to it's about to reveal itself. Just in that locker room, I felt a group that knows what's in front of them, knows what they want to attack. I think that they understand that we've still got to hear some more vocal leadership show up. But again, I didn't see that on the sideline today. Moments of lack of leadership. I was disappointed to see the ball on the ground and not see us attack it with a vengeance at times on offense. That's got to be something that shows up. I think that's true to your traits of who you are. I think later on in the game you saw some more of those moments where guys were really aggressive. We can't play or freeze in those moments. But as far as the voice and the people showing up, I thought we had leadership on the sideline. Thought we just had leadership in the locker room that I was just in. But it's got to continue to grow. It's got to continue to show up."
Dante Moore's Availability
Q: "Is it a guarantee Dante returns this season, or given the danger of head injuries, has it been a discussion that there would be a benefit to him shutting it down for the year?"
DL: "It's a continued discussion. I don't want to put words in my mouth or Dante's on that. Something we've said from the beginning is that we're going to move with an abundance of caution, continue to get you out and checked, but it won't be just a sprint. Just to say, 'OK, he's back out there no matter what.' We'll continue to have those conversations. He's been practicing with his team. I anticipate that there's going to be an opportunity for him to be back out there, but it would be unfair for me to say that right now."
Brock Thomas
Q: "After the game, Bob Chesney called Brock Thomas really special. I wonder if you could shed some light just on how you felt he played today."
DL: "I think Brock showed up when his number was called, waited for his opportunity. There's going to be some things that he did really well in this game, and I'm sure there's going to be some moments for growth for him. But he works extremely hard. There's a reason we put him in that situation. I thought he operated well when he had those moments. Continue to go evaluate the film, but I'm not surprised about what Brock was able to do when he did go in."
Dante Moore's Leadership
Q: "I know you're focused on the game, but did you see anything from Dante today as far as leadership on the sideline and with his team and trying to be that coach on the sideline when he couldn't be out there and play?"
DL: "I wasn't focused on that. Didn't see that specifically. I saw him talking to players continually. I saw him on the sideline, engaged. But again, I wasn't focused on that in detail."
Struggling Passing Game
Q: "You mentioned a big difference between this game and the last game; those first and second decisions maybe just weren't available. From what you saw on the field, what was the biggest difference that UCLA's secondary specifically was taking away that made it hard for you to make those first and second decisions?"
DL: "I think there was a lot of contact in the secondary. They were doing a good job getting hands on early and covering up guys, but again, I'll have to go evaluate the film. They played a lot of cloud coverage at times into the boundary, which is expected. There were times they were doubling our wideouts. When that happens, you've got to be able to run the ball effectively, and we didn't do that today. I think we only rushed for 73 yards. That's not been our formula to win here. We've always been a team that could run the ball to win, and we didn't do that today."
Penalties
Q: "How disheartening and frustrating is it to see those costly penalties? The A'Mauri one comes to mind, and Matayo jumping offsides there in the fourth quarter. How can that get cleaned up? Two senior leaders for you.
DL: "A'Mauri's is extremely frustrating. Matayo jumped offsides intentionally for us. It was second and one, so we told him we're gonna move, try to get them to jump. If they don't jump, jump offsides intentionally. It's gonna be first down, but it gives us 10 yards to play with to get the stop. So that situation played out exactly like we wanted it to play out. A'Mauri's is really frustrating. He's a guy that plays with great passion. I think he probably had some really positive plays today in today's game, but that's one where your passion has to show up between the whistles, not post-whistle. I think we all know that he didn't mean that in any way, shape, or form, other than frustration with himself that he could have ended up with an interception. But it cost us 15 yards in that moment. I think we still were able to turn it into a stop, but you know it's frustrating for sure in that moment."
Aaron Flowers Injury
Q: "What is Aaron dealing with in terms of injury, and what do you expect going forward?"
DL: "Yeah, shoulder injury. We'll see what it continues to look like. Don't know if it will happen back or not. Going to make sure he does what's best for him."
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Everything Dan Lanning said after Oregon's loss to UCLA
