Dan Lanning criticizes offense following second scrimmage

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning was not pleased with the way the Ducks offense took care of the ball during their second scrimmage on Saturday. And he was not hesitant to emphasize how the turnovers need to be cleaned up.

Despite moving the ball well, the offense threw four interceptions and put the ball on the turf multiple times, Lanning told reporters on Saturday. Beyond those specific plays, Lanning felt the ball was put in jeopardy too much.

“We did not do as good a job taking care of the ball today,” Lanning said. “You know, offense moved the ball really well early. And really kind of throughout the scrimmage. But we had a lot of self-inflicted wounds. Some takeaways, defense did a really good job of attacking the ball.”

While the bulk of the fault for the turnovers lies with the offense, Lanning did acknowledge the defense was on point to create takeaways.

“It’s a combination of both. You know, it’s a combination of both. Not catching it clean turns into a tip ball turns into an interception. Some poor decision making. Some taking advantage of an opportune moment and doing a good job attacking the ball. So I think it’s a combination. We gotta do a better job taking care of it, for sure,” Lanning said.

Asked if aggressive, limit-testing play calling from offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham had led to any takeaways, Lanning said he did not think that was the case. He doubled down on challenging his offense to cut back on the turnovers, instead.

“For me, I think most of the decisions that ended up being bad decisions today were somebody trying to make something out of nothing,” Lanning said, “and trying to create a play when they didn’t need to. A bad play turned into a worse play. And that’s something we’ve got to do a better job of.”