The Oregon Ducks left no doubt, going on the road and stomping the Ohio State Buckeyes, 41-28, and pulling off an upset that will keep the team's slim postseason hopes alive. After trailing early, the Ducks stormed back and scored 38 points in a row en route to a blowout win.
Dan Lanning made sure the Ducks stayed aggressive, converting eight times on third down and using a fake punt deep in their own territory to flip the momentum before halftime. Dylan Raiola shined again, throwing for 257 yards and two touchdowns, while the defense limited standout receiver Jeremiah Smith for much of the game.
Just a few weeks after all hope looked lost for the Ducks this season, back-to-back wins that saw the offense explode with points and the defense suffocate
opponents in the second half have Oregon back in the playoff conversation. Lanning isn't looking that far ahead just yet, but it's clear he has found the winning combination with this group.
After the season-defining win, Lanning opened up on what worked for the Ducks, and what the team can take away from a monumental upset win on the road. Here is everything Lanning had to say after Oregon's big win at Ohio State.
Opening Statement
Dan Lanning: "Obviously a fun game. A lot of credit to our players for not flinching, not blinking when you're down 14, and then just keep fighting. In those moments, we said we're gonna let it hang and just go after it, similar to last week. We've proven that we can be a team in tough battles and battle back. I thought collectively we played really well. I thought we lacked some discipline there at the end. Sometimes it's hard to settle in and figure out what the opponent's doing. Once we were able to do that offensively, I thought we were able to take advantage of some stuff and do some things pretty well. Obviously their wide receiver's as good as anybody. There's some that we gave him for free, and some that you have to chalk up to the game and say, 'That guy's special.' That showed up for him today. Really talented team, well-coached team, but I thought our guys got a hold of the momentum and really didn't let it go until the very end of the game there, where they chipped their way down the field."
Slow Start
Question: You'd like to get off to a hot start in this one, but they took the early lead. What's the vibe as the first quarter is winding down, and what were you guys able to do to flip things?
DL: "I think some of their success early came on third downs, and there were some things we didn't do well. We got into three third downs on that first series, and you're killing yourself because you're not able to get off the field. We gave up a big play on a miscommunication on how we handle the motion, which is not OK. When you realize we're giving up some of these for free, we're actually doing a good job stopping the run; that's a frustration, but it's easy things that you can fix. We just don't know how many opportunities that you can give up and still have a chance to have success in the game. I thought our players settled in. I thought offensively we found some things, and then obviously the fake punt sparked a little bit of momentum. And then there at the end of half, where we talked about when to kick a field goal there, especially getting the ball out at half or going for it. I just felt like we had a really good call, a couple good calls that we could call, and we were in position to execute.
Momentum
Q: When you call a fake punt like that, you guys went on a 38-0 run after that, is the momentum you can gain from converting a play like that real on the sidelines? Does that give energy? And what went into making that call?
DL: "Those are things that you talk about as a staff, and as a team, and that's a play we've been working really since fall camp. We've had a long history of running fake punts. We just haven't seen a lot of teams that have given us an opportunity where we can potentially hit that. The fake punts that we've run in the past were runs there to the left, right. We did it with Casey Rogers. We've done it with Jordan Burch. We've done it with Matayo and Teitum. Those have shown up for us, so we felt like that would be something people would play aggressively to.
"Obviously, if it didn't work, you guys can have a day with me, especially in our own territory. But that's where fakes do work, right? We felt like we punted a couple times at that point. We'd seen their look, and we felt confident. 'Hey, it's going to be there.' I don't know how many times we ran that in practice. You talk about your players consistently in team meetings and special teams, and then you get an opportunity to go execute on the field, and it has the success that it has. I think everybody's like, 'OK, we got this. Let's go.' And it certainly created some momentum and gave us a chance to kind of settle in and even out the score a little bit there earlier and get into a rhythm."
Resilient
Q: What do you make of the resilience that this team has shown? Not only going down two scores today, but throughout a season that had tough stretches and didn't go the way that you guys had hoped.
DL: "Yeah, we're like cockroaches, man. I mean, we won't die, right? Our guys have been battle-tested, so they don't flinch in those moments; they don't blink, right? We don't really look at the scoreboard. We just focus on working, and I thought they did that tonight."
Let It Rip
Q: You've won in the college football playoff. You've won on the road in huge games. But after everything your team has been through this year and the things you've had to figure out on the fly, is this as rewarding as anything that any game you've won so far here?
DL: "I don't know that. I had fun tonight. It's fun to coach, man. I've had fun coaching the last few weeks, and like I said, our guys really work really hard. We're trying our best not to be outcome-based. I know that if we didn't go for it on fourth down there, down tight in the red area, I would have been flying back regretting that, knowing that those opportunities are there. So I just feel like we've been a team that's like, 'Let's let it rip, see where the chips fall.'"
The Turning Point
Q: Could you feel the momentum shift? The fake punt was a turning point, but could you feel the momentum just building? And then also the energy kind of being sucked out of the building and their sideline as well.
DL: "Yeah, I mean, we struggled a little bit early; the cadence is loud. You talk about 102,000 people. You know, our goal was to quiet them down, and then obviously in the fourth quarter they weren't there anymore. So, similar to when we played Penn State, we've played in some environments like this before, and we just talked about, 'Look, let's make them be spectators. Let's make them be witnesses of what's about to happen. We get to write the story. It's not written yet, right? So grab your pen and let's go to work.'"
Jay Johnson
Q: Could you speak to the job that Jay has done the last couple of weeks, and is he under consideration for long term?
DL: "Yeah, I mean he's been outstanding. I think he did a really good job, and there are some plays that he'll want back from tonight. I think the collective effort, I think the way he's communicated with our quarterback and helped create confidence, and then just the volume. We were able to hit on a lot of plays we practiced over and over and over again tonight. But yeah, he's done a great job, and certainly it's something that has to be considered."
Celebrating with Fans
Q: "When you're running towards the fans that make your trip all the way out to Columbus, Ohio, what is that feeling like for somebody who might not have that feeling?
DL: "Man, just grateful. Grateful that we have a fan base that traveled. It didn't look like there was a lot of green in there when the game started, but when you get done and realize all the green that was there, it's pretty impressive that our fans made the trip. It's not an easy trip. Made the trip, and all of them, I promise, will remember this game for a long, long time."
Coaching Free
Q: You mentioned earlier how if you didn't do the fake punt that maybe you would regret the decision that you made before. Do you feel like you're coaching a little more free and comfortable? Do you think the players are sort of playing a little more free and just going out there and playing football?
DL: "Yeah, probably."
Identity
Q: How is taking risks, getting back to your identity — you said letting it hang last week — really sparked a resurgence for you guys in that locker room?
DL: "Yeah, just like what you say you're going to do and what you do. I mean, I think that carries over, and when everybody has a great feel for the plan, which we have as a team that had a great feel for what our plan was going into this game, and then there's moments like that they're like, 'Oh yeah, that's what we said we were going to do,' and it showed up. I think that that creates some belief."
Growth
Q: I know earlier in the season you said that this was going to be the season where you grew the most. I'm curious in what ways you feel like that has happened already, and are there any examples where you feel like that trickled down to your team on the field today?
DL: "Yeah, none that I would share. But I've grown a lot. I think our team's growing a lot."
Teitum Tuioti
Q: Is there an early update on Teitum?
DL: "Yeah, not right now. We'll wait to hear from our medical staff. I know he's tough, so I'm ready for good news there."
Playmakers
Q: Could you speak to the individual efforts in the first two touchdowns in the second half? Dierre's run and the one-handed catch from Dakorien, and just the kind of playmakers you guys have.
DL: "Yeah, I mean the one-handed catch by Dakorien. That's everybody being really in sync because we called it a run. It was actually an RPO. I think Dylan saw that he's one-on-one outside and made an outstanding catch. I've seen that catch a million times at practice. Dierre is just that guy that continues to push and run hard. We saw that with the kick return last week that it's going to take more than one person to get him down. So proud of his effort."
Scoreboard
Q: We saw when there was the jawing back-and-forth on the sideline, you pointed up to the scoreboard. Can you walk us through that?
DL: "I'm not interested in talking to their team. Just trying to go score."
Dylan Raiola
Q: Dylan Raiola continues to show up in those big moments for you guys. Could you talk about his resilience as a quarterback and how you've seen the team rally around him tonight?
DL: "Yeah, I'm just proud of a guy that's dealt with the adversity that Dylan's dealt with throughout the season, and then in position to execute. I knew early in the week that he had prepped really, really hard, and our whole team knows that. There are times where we try to play the game before the game. We're going through video copies, and he's calling out the coverage before. There's no overlay that tells him what the coverage is. He's recognizing the front of the coverage based on their alignments, where they're at, and calling it out. I think our players hearing that and then seeing the execution in the game really helped us."
Stopping Jeremiah Smith
Q: What do you make of just the job that, before those last couple drives, the defense did limiting Jeremiah, and then its overall performance to push the right buttons?
DL: "Yeah, so it's a little disappointing with the finish, but on the same note, you're playing a different brand of defense at that point. At the very end, we're just not going to give them a chance to be able to come back and have success in this game. We had some other guys in that you want to make sure that they're playing toward the standard. I thought our defense did an outstanding job. I think coach Hampton and the defensive staff are great examples of the most important trait is winning the game. There's gonna be some frustrating moments in there, but they coached to win the game there at the end. Obviously, we gave up a couple cheap ones, right? I mean, they came out hot, scored 14 early because of some of our mistakes, and then they really didn't have any success there until the end when we were playing a little bit more 'bend but don't break' type defense. Really proud of the job they did. I thought we controlled the run early, and then it was like, 'OK, how can we just eliminate this No. 4?' He's a hard guy to eliminate. We had some tools, and at times it was really effective. And there are times that we'll look back and say we could have executed better."
Pass Protection
Q: Dylan was kept pretty clean in the pocket, able to make throws throughout most of that. I guess what can you just say about the offensive line being able to keep him clean for most of the game?
DL: "Yeah, you know the quarterback sack stat is a stat that always gets attributed to the offensive line, as it should, but it's a quarterback stat, it's a protection stat, it's a game plan stat. I thought all those things kind of came together to say, 'OK, hey, we're comfortable with you just burning the ball there if it's not there.' The quarterback throws an incomplete pass instead of taking a sack, right? We're going to bump in protection here, right? We know this is a longer developing route. We're going to make sure that we have seven or six guys in protection to give us the opportunity. So I thought it was a collective effort of all those things coming together. Dylan is doing a good job having two hands on the ball in the pocket, and there are a couple of plays that we'll look at and say that was close, but overall, our offensive line, I think, is really starting to understand who they are and what our strengths are."
Benched to Stardom
Q: Dylan had told (the broadcast) in pregame that losing the starting job briefly was the best thing that could happen for his career. Can you speak to just the last three or four weeks and the maturity and what you've seen and learned about him through that?
DL: "I think his confidence is at an all-time high right now, which is all somebody else has to remember. You're a play away from losing some of that, and right before the fake punt, that was close to being an interception. There are moments in there that we have to go assess and say, 'OK, well, how would this look different? Where can we grow and learn?' I think the thing that he's done a good job of is not riding like the external expectations or the way of what people think of him, but more so really internally processing. 'OK, where can he be better? How can he improve?' There should be some stuff that he did that was outstanding tonight. And then there'll be a couple things where he's like, 'OK, I can definitely be better there.'"
Flip The Script
Q: It was like three weeks ago that you guys were the team with the backup quarterback and crowds booing and people are leaving. To be able to switch that around in three or four weeks, as their fans are filtering out today and they're experiencing that, is that something that came through your mind at all? Just how much road you guys have traveled in the last couple weeks?
DL: "Well, I'll say this: Coach Day is an outstanding coach. I said this to our team earlier. I showed some of the press conferences from this week to them, and I said, 'Guys, that was me. That was me two weeks ago.' You guys felt that in our building, and it's hard really to overcome because what you do in those moments, you just try harder and harder and harder to fix things. You can't fix everything. I think that's one thing that we were able to settle back in because he does a really good job. (Day's) teams are always hard to beat. We were on the other end of a butt whooping like this at the Rose Bowl, and that certainly resonated with me. I know how good of a job they do, and I know it's hard when you change what you think you're going to be throughout the year, and somebody gets injured. It takes a while to kind of figure that out, and in college football, you just don't have time to do that. We had some learning pains. We went through some growing pains ourselves of figuring out, 'OK, how do we become the team that we want to be?' And I feel like we saw glimpses of that tonight."
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Everything Dan Lanning said after Oregon's upset win over Ohio State
