The Oregon Ducks picked up a win they desperately needed, taking down the rival USC Trojans, 41-27. The Ducks were unstoppable on offense in the second half, scoring 28 points and pulling away in the fourth quarter, while the defense picked up critical stops along the way to allow the Ducks to widen the gap.
However, the Ducks lost quarterback Dante Moore in the second quarter on a dirty hit by a USC defender. Moore scrambled for a first down before sliding and being laid out as the Trojans player delivered a hit to the head. Moore was down on the field for several minutes as he was placed onto a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance before heading to the hospital.
A moment that brought intense emotions to everyone on the Oregon sideline, including
head coach Dan Lanning, could have been the point where the Ducks lost focus. Instead, Dylan Raiola stepped in and threw for 289 yards and two touchdowns to win the game.
Lanning addressed the play after the game, while acknowledging Oregon's effort to finish the rivalry win and what Moore's current status is. Here's everything Lanning had to say after the big win on the road.
Opening Statement
Dan Lanning: "All right, how fun was that? I knew it was going to be a battle as a team that can that can score points. Obviously, that showed up. You know, we felt like the rushing battle from the beginning; that was a big piece for us. The penalties, I think that hurt us a little bit in the first half. We had opportunities to punch in and potentially have some touchdowns that had to turn into field goals. But we were kind of just charting like, who's going to outlast the opponent? Who's going to score? We scored on possessions in the second half. I thought our offense did an unbelievable job in the second half, making some adjustments. We've got to get better at some stuff on defense. We put them in some tough positions, so they got to be in some tight windows. But overall, I said the most physical team is going to win. I think that showed up tonight, right? The most physical team and the group that had focus and certainly, you know, energy changed whenever Dante got hurt.
"We had a lot of guys on the sideline that were emotional in that moment, including myself. And right now, indications are that he's going to be in recovery, so I don't want to speak too soon. But he is moving. He has the ability to move, so we continue to assess him, but I don't want to make any speculation or further thoughts on that until we have more information on him. But I'll say these guys went out and played for them, right? Played for five. Dylan Raiola came in, obviously, had an excellent game. Every guy on the sideline had faith in him. He was ready for his moment. Earlier this week, he was texting me during the week about his preparation. 'I heard this at a press conference. I saw this on their film.' This guy prepared for his moment, like he was going to be out there on the field when his number got called, not knowing that it would. But when his number got called, he was ready for it, and he was able to execute. So really proud of that. Really proud of Dylan from that standpoint.
"The game started off a little bit slow. It was long. Early on some long drives on both sides of the ball. I think it was only four possessions on both sides of the ball in the first half, and there were a few more in the second. But obviously, learning moments for me. I think back a lot to that Washington game. First year, we didn't kick the field goal going into half. Had the opportunity, knew we were getting the ball, so it felt like in this moment — and then think about (how the) situation has changed.
"We have a different quarterback out there, so the pieces have changed. Take the field goal in that moment for us to go up, and then turn around and score in the middle eight there coming out of half, which we thought was awesome for our players, and makes me confident to make decisions like that in games. Later on, we had to go for it, or didn't have to, but chose to go for it on fourth and three there, midfield, and close the game out, and that's really what happened when we were able to close the game out. So a lot of guys stepped up. It's hard to play in a tough environment. I told our players the reason this place — I've watched three of their TV games. I haven't seen a game packed yet, but we were here. It was packed tonight, so I guess when the Ducks show up, that's how you fill up the Coliseum. We've got to take advantage of that, so we can open it up for questions."
Regrouping After Moore's Injury
Question: Can you just go into the process of getting the guys back together and composed after what happened to Dante, and including yourself? How did you kind of recompose?
DL: "It's hard in that moment. I think what you ask yourself is, 'What's the best thing I can do, and what's the best way to honor Dante in that moment?' I just called the guys up, and first thing we did, we did we had a prayer, and we prayed for his health, prayed for some composure for ourselves. We wanted to make sure that we had to play the game in between the whistles the rest of the game, and it's trippy at times. I thought our guys had unbelievable composure throughout the night, even going up the tunnel here at the very end; they had great composure. So proud of their performance from that standpoint.
"Credit to Lincoln (Riley); he asked about Dante after the game. I don't think that's anything you can coach, but there's a reason targeting exists in football, and that's as clear as day. It's a shame that that happened to a good player. In my mind, that certainly could have been avoided. So it's disappointing that that would happen, but I thought our players did a great job of resetting. And on that note, they still played right with great violence and energy to make sure that they could take advantage of what happened to their teammate."
Dylan Raiola
Q: What can you say about Raiola and his stepping in tonight, and just having command of the offense, and you know, checking into hot routes, and just overall his poise tonight.
DL: "Dylan was great, man. I think a lot of times when guys come into that situation, they feel like all of a sudden they have to press. I think what gave Dylan confidence is he's like, 'I got great players around me. I'm gonna take what they give me.' It's probably a couple decisions tonight where I'm like, OK, that's not where we want the ball to go. Very few of those. A lot of decisions where he made great decisions of getting rid of the ball. I thought he utilized his ability to scramble at times in plays that could have been sacks. But he did a great job of continuing down the field, keeping his eyes downfield. The guy operated. I mean, he threw for almost 300 yards, 19-of-25, two touchdowns. I mean, that's the kind of performance you're excited about. There's a lot of guys I can praise. Like Dierre showed up. When that guy touches the ball, he is dynamic. He ran like a warrior, and I'm so really proud of him."
Raiola's Big Moment
Q: What did you say to Dylan coming off the field, and how do you feel like he stepped up in that moment, just given everything and all the emotions that went into him?
DL: "I'm very proud of Dylan, and we've all seen it. That moment happens in sports a lot of times when guys aren't ready, and they step up, and then that becomes the story. 'Oh, that guy wasn't ready for his moment,' right? And regardless of how Dylan would perform, I love that guy. He worked so hard, incredibly hard, to put himself in a position to have success and be successful. He came in and he operated, man. He came in and he operated. We've seen that go other ways before. And regardless of what happened, I would have been really proud of him. But to know that he put in the work, the prep was ready in this moment. Then again, he didn't come in and try to force it. He just played the game. I thought Drew (Mehringer) called an unbelievable game, especially in the second half. Really controlled the clock. I thought that was a winner for us. I can't say enough great things about Dylan and how he operates."
Raiola's Preparation
Q: What was Dylan's week like? You can build a game plan, and it's obviously about most of it is going to Dante. Can you just explain what his week was like in preparation?
DL: "You get reps, but you don't get the same amount of reps as the ones, right? I think again, credit to Drew. You call the game different based on who your quarterback is. I thought he really leaned into things that, OK, we feel really good about this stuff on the call sheet for Dylan for him to execute his game, and I thought he did that really, really well. There are a lot of times you'll go out to a practice, and you'll see Dante getting the rep, and you'll see Dylan or Brock back behind the huddle getting the same rep mentally, and I think those reps have obviously paid off. What he is today as a player compared to what he was when he first got here is just a lot different system. He's made tremendous growth."
Overcoming Emotions
Q: You mentioned that you and the players had a prayer. Did you have to console any guys who maybe were overly emotional? It looked like some were, but you also have to make it more than don't retaliate, don't try and take it out.
DL: "All those conversations happen. You see your brother get hurt, right? And you want to react. I want to react, and I thought you have to find the guys that are emotional. And then the big key for me is, 'Hey, let's play with our passion in between the whistles.' Because what happens in those moments: your body starts to tense up, you start to get a heightened sense of awareness, and you're wasting a lot of energy in between plays when you still got four quarters to finish, especially as early as it happened in the game. There's some breathing exercises that go on, some resets go on. There's just some confirmation of like, 'Hey, here's where we're at. Here's what we need from you, and here's the best way you can honor Dante and the way you operate.' So I thought we had a lot of guys that did a really good job at that. There's gonna be guys that are emotional in that moment, so they ended really well."
Bear's Return to USC
Q: A lot of USC fans had a lot to say to Bear Alexander today. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about his composure and his maturity coming back to the Coliseum today.
DL: "It's something we talked about going throughout the entire week. 'Bear, here's what you can expect. Here's what you can anticipate. Let's go. Let's go ahead and decide what our reactions are going to be. Why you're a different person today than you were six years ago, five years ago, four years ago.' How he's grown up, and I think we saw a great example of that today. Saw a leader on the sideline, a guy that was demanding the best of his teammates, a guy that was focused in the game at all the moments. I didn't get to watch him specifically play, but I know they struggled to run the ball inside. I think that has a lot to do with our interior D-line. They were able to create some runs outside that we've got to clean up, but I thought he did some great things. I thought he had good composure in moments where a lot of people, under the same scrutiny, hearing those voices, wouldn't react the same."
USC's Behavior
Q: What was your reaction to the way USC behaved on the field, and specifically the player that made the hit on Dante after the injury? He seemed to be celebrating the hit, and it was pretty clear Dante was hurt. And then, as a second piece of that, do you coach your players how you want them to act if they're involved in a play where somebody gets hurt?
DL: "I didn't see any of that. And if that's the way somebody else was operating, it's really disappointing. In that moment, for me, I challenge myself to focus on the moment and the things that I can control. Their team has absolutely nothing to do with what I have to do and what we have to do. So we try to have a singular focus. Our guys respect the game. I don't think you'd ever see that from our players. I don't think you'd ever see that from our coaches. And again, I don't think that's necessarily an indictment on Coach Riley because I can't speak to what I didn't see, and I know he was quick to voice his concern for our players, so I appreciate that from him. But it's a disgusting play. You don't want to see it happen. It's disappointing that it happened, and I'm praying that our player is healthy. I'm praying that their player can learn from that situation because that's not a moment you want to be a part of."
Bouncing Back
Q: A lot of noise nationally throughout the week before getting up to a game like this, coming off the Oklahoma State loss a couple weeks ago. What questions do you feel like your team answered tonight about what team they're going to be this year?
DL: "Tonight was one game. It's time to go attack another game. All you guys are going to write whatever you want to. We don't care. You don't get to hop back on the bus."
Building Trust
Q: How have you seen the offense be able to build trust on the sideline to execute better on the field when you need to?
DL: "That's built through practice. It's built through reps. Those guys have all seen Dylan make a lot of plays in practice, right? He's been here a long time. He understands our system. He's worked really hard to understand it. So I think that trust was built long before he touched the field tonight."
Shifting Game Plans
Q: Was the game plan that you had to change super drastic with Dylan?
DL: "No, I mean there's more places you're going to lean to for one guy as opposed to another guy, right? We have a lot of plays that didn't get called tonight too that we had listed that we thought were going to be good plays. I thought our offensive staff had some good wrinkles and ways that we could be creative to run the ball, but I thought they also did a good job of playing to some of Dylan's skill set. We're able to get them in open sets and create some passing lanes. He did a really good job. I thought one of the best things Dylan did, and you probably saw at times, was redirecting protections, getting it pointed in the right direction, get it picked up, which is hard at times with teams like that."
Honoring No. 5
Q: Speaking of Dylan, we saw him put the number five up after his first touchdown pass. What did the team's response to Dante's injury tell you about its emotional composure and emotional maturity?
DL: "Yeah, showed up, it showed up tonight. Like I said, in that moment, everybody wants to go get into a street fight, right? And I thought our players had unbelievable composure in that moment. I thought our players had unbelievable composure in that moment, and then they went and played it on the field, which is where the game's going to be played between whistles."
Dante Moore's Status
Q: Was Dante unconscious after the hit, and do you think that suspensions are warranted for the scuffle and the hit that caused Dante's injury?
DL: "I'll let our conference handle what that looks like. I'll let Coach Riley handle what that looks like for their team. I mean, there's rules in place to handle that. I trust our medical staff, so I can't tell you exactly what was said down on the field. But obviously, they use the utmost precaution in that situation, which makes it valid and necessary."
Q: Did you talk to Dante after the game at all yet?
DL: "I haven't seen Dante yet. Just got updates from our medical staff."
A'Mauri Washington
Q: You talked a few weeks ago about A'Mauri Washington and him needing to step up in leadership, and just because of his execution on the field and lack of focus at times. He had his best game of the season tonight. How do you think that he's progressed over the season and taking that to heart?
DL: "He was limited a little bit in fall camp, so he probably gets it unfair. You guys don't know that because we don't let you come to practice, but he's growing into the player we think he can be. I'll have to watch the film to see exactly what he accomplished. There's no question in my mind that A'Mauri can be an absolute dominant force out there on the field for us, a weapon for us as he continues to grow and get better."
Jamari Johnson's Return
Q: How big was it for Jamari Johnson to come back for you guys? He made a good one-handed catch up at the 1-yard line, but it was called back. But just his production for you guys, how big was that?
DL: "Jamari's a dog, man. He's a smart, intelligent football player. He's different when he's on the field. He's that security blanket for our quarterbacks. He's blocked well in the winter, so really glad that we got the opportunity to have him on the field. Really didn't practice Monday or Tuesday, got limited reps on Wednesday, and then still had limited reps on Thursday. So for him to go out there and perform, be locked in and engaged on his assignment, you know, he'd take the script after practice. He walked through every single play because he wasn't able to go through the play live, and I think that tells you a little about him as a player and what he was able to do."
Final Remarks
DL: "Three wins against these guys. I guess if you're a good football player in the area, you should come to Oregon. Or you can stay in LA and go to a Chris Brown concert."
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Everything Dan Lanning said after Oregon's win at USC
