Dan Lanning on Indiana: "Unbelievable Opportunity In Front of Us"

Monday night Dan Lanning held his weekly press conference. It was short and sweet like usual and coach was smart not to offer up any locker room material for the Hoosiers.

So far Cignetti and Lanning have offered high praise of one another in their media sessions this week.

Here are the top comments from Dan Lanning Monday night with the video included. He was asked about a few injury updates but as usual did not reveal very much.

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Opening Statement:

“Well, unbelievable opportunity sitting in front of us here with a top ten matchup versus a really good team. You watch these guys on tape. They do a lot of things well. I think the first thing that just stands out to you is when you look at special teams and how dominant they’ve been in special teams and blocking kicks, just what they do and then how they play to their players’ strengths.

Maybe their quarterback’s playing as good as anybody. Obviously, they’re extremely well coached on both sides of the ball. They create a lot of havoc on defense. And ultimately, that’s what we’re counting on our fans to be part of what makes this environment great. It’s an exciting weekend in Eugene. A lot of people come to town to watch this game because it’s a premier game between two really good teams. Counting on our fans to have a big impact on that game.”

Meeting/Knowing Curt Cignetti:

“Yeah, I haven’t. Outside of us being around each other at Big Ten meetings, obviously everywhere he’s been, he’s had a lot of success. His team’s really well coached. I think the one, you know, the other piece that really sticks out about their staff, you look at their staff. A lot of those guys have been together for a long time, like a lot of continuity, and that speaks to guys that want to coach with him.

He’s won everywhere he’s been, right? That’s really apparent, but he’s obviously a phenomenal coach and has done a really good job.

On Indiana’s Offense:

“I know it’s real balanced and, you know, what do you do to try to combat that balance? Yeah, I think the first thing that sticks out is like, this is a team that has a clear identity. You know, they know what they’re good at and they do it really, really, really well. They run the ball well. And, you know, they obviously have RPO tags off a lot of their runs that they make sure what they’re running it, they’re running it into an advantageous look. When they’re throwing it, they’re throwing it into a good look. They do a really good job of that.

You know, so that’s the thing that stands out. They’re rushing as well as anybody in the country and then throwing as well as anybody in the country. And they have a lot of weapons that they can use. On the thing that stands out. They’re rushing as well as anybody in the country and then throwing as well as anybody in the country, and they have a lot of weapons that they can use.”

On the Defense:

“Yeah, I mean, it’s a multitude of looks. They’re aggressive by nature, right? They do a good job of eliminating explosive plays, but they run a lot of, you know, simulated pressures and fire zone pressures that create, you know, havoc up front. Paths change quite a bit, you know, with the D-line, a lot of different stunts that they use. And the guys win at the point of attack when they do blitz.
So they do a good job of that.”

Injury updates on Dillon Gresham, Evan Stewart, Trey McNutt:

“They’ll all be down this week.”