Dan Lanning Reflects on Oregon's Win Over James Madison, Shaky Second Half

The No. 5 Oregon Ducks defeated the No. 12 James Madison Dukes 51-34 in the first round of the College Football Playoff Saturday night in Eugene.

Head coach Dan Lanning met with reporters following the win and was anything but satisfied after the Ducks let their foot off the gas and didn’t meet their standard in the second half of Saturday’s contest.

Opening statement: “The team realizes this is a growth moment for us, an opportunity to continue to improve and get better, but we’re going to have to play better football to be able to reach our goals when it’s all said and done. There’s some moments that really showed up, obviously special teams with the blocked kick, blocked punt. There were some big plays there. But to not be able to come out and have the same success in the second half that we had in the first half is certainly disappointing and I think our players will certainly learn from that.”

On positives in the first half, offense clicking

Lanning: “Yeah, I thought they had a great plan. Starting off, they had loaded boxes inside. We were able to get the ball in the perimeter. We were able to take shots where we thought we could win. We connected on a couple of those. I think we scored all five of the first five possessions but then obviously threw a pick in the last drive, right? Which isn’t good.”

On defensive goal of taking away opponent’s identity

Lanning: “We didn’t play well enough as a unit to do what we want to be able to do, and, again, the explosive plays there’s probably a piece that really started. They had 13 third downs in the first half. We got to be able to get off the field on third down. I think our offense only had one in the first half and then in the second half they had a few more, but they did a much better job moving the ball on early downs.”

On what makes Jeremiah McClellan successful

Lanning: “He’s been really consistent down the stretch, he’s where he’s supposed to be. He’s making tough catches. I thought that other one was really close again today where they had the PI. But he’s attacking the ball, right? And playing strong at the top of routes. He’s playing some good football for us down the stretch.”

On how he felt team executed a different plan to navigate rest

Lanning: “I think we started off hot, like I said. Ultimately we could have been better defensively in the first half but able to hold them to field goal attempts instead of touchdowns there in the first was a positive, but the second half, as a team, we didn’t play the way we need to be able to play. You got to find moments like that when you have a big lead to be able to choke somebody out and we didn’t do that.”

On the emotion he’d use to describe how he’s feeling

Lanning: “I probably wouldn’t describe it.”

On multiple running backs having success

Lanning: “When you run the ball well, you have a chance to win games. You can stay on schedule and be able to take some of the shots that we take. Stay out of the chains, not force yourself to make some tough third downplays and we did that pretty effectively today.”

On what he saw from JMU defense that allowed offense to have success down the field

Lanning: “They’re an aggressive defense, so when you can get a hat on a hat, you’re going to have
opportunities for guys to go make big plays. I thought we did some good blocking on the perimeter which was necessary to create that. We didn’t have really penalties in that area as well, which is important whenever you’re going to be aggressive. But when they play aggressive and they’re going to have a lot of hats, you’re going to get opportunities for one-on-ones outside and you’re going to get opportunities to create big plays.”

On if he was glad to have a first-round game, if he subscribes to idea of a ‘tune up’ game

Lanning: “I’m always glad to play football. It’s exciting. You don’t get a lot of opportunities to play football
so certainly glad to have that opportunity.”

On how JMU defense limited Oregon’s explosive plays in second half

Lanning: “I just don’t think we clicked on all cylinders, like I said. There were some moments we had success and a drive would stall out. But I’ll have to go out and see specifically what they did differently.”

On how he’d describe Malik Benson

Lanning: “Yeah, Malik’s showed up for us, certainly down the stretch this season, certainly great today.
Obviously had some big balls that he caught and I’ve been really proud of his progression and his growth for us in this program.”

On what he thinks this team is ready to do

Lanning: “Go work. Ready to go to work.”

On Dante Moore‘s preparation, being ready to meet the moment

Lanning: “Yeah, we have a great quarterback, right? And he can handle a lot of situations. He can
handle pressure. I know there’s a couple he’d want back tonight but overall I thought he executed our plan well.”

On batted balls, assessment of defensive line

Lanning: That QB has a lower release. We thought that could make an impact and even when you’re
not necessarily making a sack, there’s opportunities for plays like that. I thought our guys did a good job getting hands up.”

On Autzen crowd, town rallying around first playoff game

Lanning: “Yeah, our crowd was outstanding. They’ve been outstanding every time. We knew we could
always count on those guys to show up and make it an unbelievable atmosphere. I think it’s really special for our seniors to get to enjoy that and proud for them.”

On what gives him confidence the team will progress after disappointment in Saturday’s win

Lanning: “Just because they have in the past. Our guys are about the right things when it comes to growth mindset. They’re going to want to attack it and I know they share some of the same sentiments as me.”

On team echoing disappointment in second half, what it says about the standard

Lanning: “Yeah, there’s a standard here. There’s certainly a standard for performance. Our players know
that. They know what championship football looks like and the second half didn’t look like that.”

On using anything from last year’s playoff experience

Lanning: “Yeah, a lot of our prep was different this year. And, again, won’t go into great detail with that but we did do some things differently.”

On narrative of team being young and unproven, what he’s seen from freshmen and young guys stepping up

Lanning: “Yeah, some of those guys got some moments again today. We’ve had some growth. We’ve
had strength in numbers all year where we’re had a lot of guys who can play winning football. A lot of guys touched the field for us today. We started to roll some guys there in the second half. We’ll have to go evaluate that film because obviously their performance wasn’t as good there, so while there’s been growth and there’s opportunities to improve, there’s still a lot of opportunities this front of us to
continue to grow.”

On rotating personnel in third quarter after being up several scors

Lanning: “Yeah, you just keep evaluating the game. We weren’t playing well and we had to continue to put some other guys in. But ultimately, I think the game was at hand. It was just a matter of how do you finish and perform? That’s some good experience for some guys that are in there to be able take advantage of. I just don’t know that we took advantage of that today.”

On cornerback Theran Johnson

Lanning: “I think he’ll be okay.”