Coming off an emotional road victory over a rival, the Oregon Ducks are getting a bye week at the right time. Dante Moore is down, and the Ducks might need to get Dylan Raiola more starting reps in practice. The defense needs some help on the back end. And above all else, a ranked team is coming to Eugene in two weeks, and it could be another Saturday where plenty of points are required to win.
Dan Lanning's concern, however, is always in-house. Getting the Ducks healthy and ready for the run of Big Ten games that could determine the team's postseason potential is imperative, and it could be tougher to do with a backup quarterback under center, despite Raiola's strong play so far.
Meeting with the media on Wednesday, Lanning provided an update
on Moore's concussion, what might change with Raiola running the offense, and more things the Ducks are hoping to take care of during the bye week before facing UCLA. Here's everything Lanning had to say while the Ducks take advantage of a week off.
Status of Dante Moore
Question: What was the first time that Dante got to be back around the team, and what was that moment like?
Dan Lanning: "Still going through the process there with him, so it's great to know that he's healthy and doing well, but you still continue to evaluate there."
Moving On From USC
Q: Are you aware of any contact from Desman Stephens directly to Dante?
DL: "I'm done talking about this game, guys. Let's move to the next. I appreciate all the questions about this, but that game's over with, and like we're about to play a UCLA team that reminds me a lot of Indiana from last year. Great staff, and let's just be honest — we're not remotely close to what we need to be. We're not remotely close. No offense to the question, but we can't spend a week talking about a game that happened last Saturday. I get you guys didn't get to see me on Monday, but let's talk about the future here. Our team is a long way away from being what we need to be. The great thing about a win is it builds confidence, right? We have some guys that built some confidence, but you go back and evaluate. We are so far from what we have to be as we move forward. So we've got to grow a ton. I'm not talking about that game anymore."
Looking to UCLA
Q: Looking ahead to UCLA, how much do they resemble in any way the James Madison team from last year with that coaching staff?
DL: "They've got some players that can play ball. Their running back is as good as anyone that we'll go against this year. They have a lot of players that came with them, and again, why I draw some comparisons to Indiana, a lot of guys that traveled with their coach right to the next stop. Extremely well-coached team. You've got two coordinators that were with him before, so they've been together for a while. They have a lot of continuity from that standpoint. They're running the ball as well as anybody in college football. They create explosive plays. They've got good quarterback play, and then defense. They're aggressive, and they attack. They've got a lot of different looks, but they certainly present some challenges."
Safety Struggles
Q: How would you evaluate the safety play right now?
DL: "Good at times, bad times. Not good enough. I mean, there's a lot of positions I can say that we've got to play better and make sure we're putting our guys in position to have success."
Dylan Raiola's Offense
Q: Dylan gets a chance to play last week. If he is to start (against UCLA), how much confidence as an organization does this team have in him? Considering what he showed in that environment (against USC) with everything that went on, how is he looking heading into this bye week and into next week?
DL: "It's similar to what he's looked like the last few weeks. Continue to work, and just like everybody else on this team, he's got an improvement plan. He's got areas that he can grow and get better, but he's proven he can play winning football for us, and has a skill set that'll be advantageous for us to have."
Self-Scouting
Q: We talked a lot this preseason about the size of your support staff. How does that change impact things in the bye week with allowing you to self-scout and also maybe attribute some guys to look ahead to UCLA?
DL: "We did a pretty big self-scout operation, really Sunday, Monday, for our evaluation for ourselves. Challenge ourselves to say, 'Hey, these consistently look like this. How can we change this? What can look different?' But it's also good to have tendencies. Good teams have tendencies. There are things that we can build off of, but we evaluate it and figure out what fits us. What are things that we need to adapt and change, and be able to lean in on some of those things."
Messiah Hampton
Q: Can I get your thoughts on Messiah and how he's played the last couple of weeks, and maybe especially as a blocker? That probably gets overlooked a little bit.
DL: "Yeah, it's probably one of his greatest strengths. To be a great player, especially at wideout, you've got to be able to earn the opportunity to throw the ball, right? And one of the things is you want to be able to honor both. And I know throughout this season we've challenged ourselves to make corners tackle. When you have wideouts that can block, that means corners are tackling. So he's done a good job in that area. Expecting him to continue to grow there."
Jett Washington
Q: Similar question about Jett. What has he done to separate himself and earn playing time for you guys?
DL: "I think it starts with special teams here always. You think about some guys that have been dynamic players for us in the past; they've proven that they can create a role for themselves on special teams. He did it throughout fall camp, where he was making plays for us on defense and offense. He's a student of the game. He puts in the extra time, and obviously he's got some special talent that we want to be able to utilize. But he's a special teams starter for us right now, which is huge. It's hard to do as a freshman. It's something that he's really shown himself at."
Staff Improvement
Q: You singled out Drew (Mehringer) and Koa (Ka'ai) and their ability to adapt last weekend. Can you explain what those adaptations were, how they handled that process, and how they've grown from Week 1 to now going into game five?
DL: "I would just say that for us as a staff, we evaluate every single week. What are the plays that we feel best about based on who's in the game, and how do they play those plays? What are they really comfortable with? So it showed up last week, but that's something that happens every single week, knowing what we feel really good about. 'Hey, what's this guy great at, and how do we put him in a space where they can be great?'"
Areas For Growth
Q: If you could maybe pick one area on offense and one area on defense that you would like to see the team improve heading into the bye week, what would that be?
DL: "I'd probably say first down efficiency on offense. We're creating a lot of third-and-longs for ourselves. We've got to be more efficient. We've got to be able to get our running backs on the second level more before we receive contact defense, and so we've got to be better on second and long and short yardage, right? Those areas have to show up. We haven't been what we need to be there.
Reflecting on James Madison Game
Q: How meaningful is the James Madison game last year in terms of the coach (UCLA head coach Bob Chesney) and a lot of, as you said, a lot of the personnel carrying over, and how much has ever been looked at?
DL: "It's something you weigh. It's not the only thing you weigh, right? It'll be something you evaluate, but then you also evaluate the body of work from this season."
Defensive Improvements
Q: It felt like the defense took that step. Despite a couple of weeks of struggling defensively, do you feel like you saw them take a step last weekend? Where do you feel like they still need to improve as a whole?
DL: "We still gave up way too many explosive plays for us to be the team that we want to be, and they have some really good schemes that we just faced. They were able to create explosives, but there's answers that we didn't have answers to that we had to have better answers. I think we did a good job choking out the run in between the tackles, but then there were some explosive runs on the perimeter that we have to do a better job at and adjust that better. And again, some of the passing game explosives we've got to eliminate."
Kawika Rogers
Q: How would you just evaluate Kawika's play over the last couple weeks? Put in some big moments; he seems to be doing a really good job.
DL: "He's done some really, really good things, and I think when Kawika plays with power and technique, he's a guy that can certainly help us. He certainly had a good week last week when he watched the film."
Iverson Hooks and Jalen Lott Updates
Q: Where's Iverson Hooks right now in terms of his development and his health? I know that he was banged up early, but he's been suited up the last couple of games.
DL: "Yeah, he's healthy. He's continuing to grow and develop in the scheme and find ways to help us."
Q: Same question; Jalen Lott made the trip, went through workouts and pads, and obviously didn't dress. But what's his progress like?
DL: "Definitely, he's getting a lot closer. Obviously, if he's able to take those steps."
Using the Bye Week
Q: You've had a couple seasons to kind of figure out, with all of the different byes, what's the best way to go about it for your team, where they are right now. Do you feel like the bye week is a good chance to maybe connect more off the field? Are practices tougher? Are they a little bit more recovery-based? What is your philosophy on the bye week, and what's best for this team right now?
DL: "We just have so much improvement that we have to attack, that we have to work. Certainly we're going to find moments for connection where we spend some time outside of the facility. I've got to protect myself a little bit from wanting to go too much, because it can be a long season. But the reps we get have to look a certain way, and we're trying to push right now. It's a longer practice today. Yesterday was a little bit shorter. We have to have a longer practice again tomorrow to really push to be what we want to be."
Teitum Tuioti's Coverage
Q: A few times this season, we've seen Teitum split out into almost a different position, more like a linebacker or a DB in coverage. What is it in his skill set that kind of allows him to translate there and find success?
DL: "I think it starts with his intelligence. The guy's a smart player and understands the schematics between what we're doing on defense and how we're able to utilize that. When you're a smart player, you can ask those guys to do a lot of things, and Teitum's extremely intelligent. He plays with a high motor."
Recruiting Focus
Q: You talked about the bye week being able to recruit this week. Two months from signing day, is it a focus on finishing this class, or is it more of a focus on future classes down the road?
DL: "It's all of it. You're always trying to enhance your team. I feel good about the class that we have right now. I want to continue to maintain the class that we have, and then go ahead and evaluate the future and what that looks like."
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Everything Dan Lanning said going into Oregon's bye week
