Everything Oregon HC Dan Lanning said after week one victory over Idaho (2024)

Opening statement:

Lanning: "Appreciate everybody's patience. Different than what we thought it might look like. On the same note, got to get a lot of credit to Idaho. They played a really good game. They didn't give us anything for free. A lot of learning moments for us, excited to watch the film and get back to work, because there's certainly some things that we can clean up. You know, great teams are able to learn from tight matches. This was a tight match, and we didn't create some of the explosive plays I was hoping we could create offensively. Gave up a couple critical plays on defense. Certainly, some things for us to attack. But a lot of credit to coach Eck and his guys. They came out and played a good game."

Q: What about Idaho's offense and defense made it hard to adjust to?

Lanning: "I'll have to go back and watch the film exactly. I thought they did a good job of stopping our interior run game, and we struggled at times to get the ball on the perimeter and be able to move it down the field. I think they did a really good job of staying on top, you know, defensively as well, to stop us from creating explosive plays down the field, and then they did a good job generating some pressure. So we have to evaluate some of those looks."

Q: What can you say about the performance of your defense?

Lanning: "I think there's some really good positives, but I think there's also some growth moments there. We were poor against the screen at times. Some of our situational play where we knew tricks would come up, they did and didn't execute properly in those situations. So we're going to look at it to figure out what can we improve. How can we learn? I think great teams do that."

Q: What were your thoughts on the right side of the offensive line and their play today?

Lanning: "Iwouldn't pick a side in general, you know, other than there's certainly some truth to that. We have to go back and evaluate the film and evaluate how we can improve and get better there. I think an early sack there was when we actually gave chip protection on edge and knocked him into an available gap to where he was able to create pressure, but that's something that we can attack and improve, for sure."

Q: With the inability to attack downfield, was that something Idaho schemed or part of the game plan?

Lanning: "We'll have to go back and watch the film. And we did throw for what, 380 yards. So there was still some passing game. And sometimes you have to take what they give you, but we have to be a team that can create some explosive plays, and we didn't generate enough of those today."

Q: Was Gabriel's 49 passing attempts part of the game plan or something you had to adjust for?

Lanning: "Probably a combination of both. We had to be a team that can run and pass the ball. We weren't running the ball effectively, so we had to pass the ball to get first downs."

Q: Your thoughts on Tez's reliability and his connection with Gabriel?

Lanning: "I'm looking. I think there were some moments that were really strong, and then there are some moments that can improve in every facet. So watching the film, I think will give some great indications of where we can get better."

Q: How do you potentially plan on incorporating Gabriel's running ability later in the season?

Lanning: "I think you have to evaluate every single team you're playing and how they defend you and see if that can be an element or a piece of your game. That's certainly something that we have. I don't know that it's always wise to run your quarterback every opportunity you get to."

Q: What did you make of Brandon Johnson's game today?

Lanning: "Ithought he showed up in big moments. It's great to be able to see him, you know, kind of get a feel for things. The pick in the end zone is a really, really big play, obviously, for us. And I'm excited about the player that Brandon is. Just what we thought we were getting when we brought him in, I think some of that showed up today."

Q: Can you assess Gabriel's overall performance today?

Lanning: "I think ultimately, Dillon operated within the offense well. I thought he understood what we were trying to accomplish. You know, made some good decisions. I think we got to try to figure out and eliminate some of the pressures that showed up, some of the sacks that showed up. But I have to go to the film and watch that. That doesn't necessarily mean was the quarterback. Doesn't necessarily mean was the o-line. We have to go and evaluate it."

Q: What about the productivity you got out of your tight end group?

Lanning: "We got a really good tight end group and we certainly want to be able to get the ball to. And that being said, it's a combination of both, but knowing that you have weapons, there is something we need to be able to utilize."

Q: Didn't see Jeffrey Bassa much in the second half, is he banged up? And was Tysheem Johnson not starting for disciplinary reasons?

Lanning: "I think both those guys can go. And probably Jeffrey is a little bit of a decision on do we need Jeff to go right now? But yeah, both those guys are going to go for us in the future."

Q: Gabriel hit his hand on a helmet in the first half, is he good to go as far as you know?

Lanning: "Yeah, I think so. I haven't got a medical report yet, but I think he's in good shape."

Q: What was the message to the team in the locker room?

Q: Do you think the final score thoroughly indicates how close this game was?

Lanning: "We don't live in hypotheticals. That's the score of the game, right? That's the reality. There's things that we did to put ourselves in situations where we didn't get to finish drives, and that's the reality. They stopped us on fourth down. At times when we went for it, they did a great job stopping a punt fake so there were some opportunities out there that we didn't take advantage of that they did, but the score is what the score was."

Q: With talking about how much you have to clean up, what does that say about the expectations of this team?

Lanning: "We have high expectations for ourselves, for sure, but every single game, we're finding things that we can go clean up."

Q: Was it hard to prepare for some of the trick plays that Idaho ran?

Lanning: "I think that's part of coach Eck's identity. I think they've done a really good job of taking advantage of it. We were aware of it. We had some things alert for it, and we just didn't take advantage of those."

Q: How did you feel like Charlie Pickard performed?

Lanning: "All that, I'll probably have to watch the film to get a great assessment of. I wasn't able to do that during the game."

Q: What's it been like watching Matayo grow through his first two seasons?

Lanning: "Yeah, proud of his growth. I think that edge room in general has some really talented players that have done a really good job attacking things. But proud of where Matayo is at, and continue to see him, continue to grow will be great for us in the future."

Q: Is this a game your proud to see your team get challenged or is there some dissapointment?

Lanning: "I think every single game, we look for an opportunity to grow, right? We certainly walk away from this game with opportunities to grow. Always going to be like I said, celebrate a victory, but there's some, there's some opportunities for us to get better, for sure."

Q: What did you make of Boettcher's play?