Everything Dan Lanning said Monday ahead of Oregon's Week 11 showdown with USC

Dan Lanning met with reporters for his weekly Monday press conference ahead of No. 6 Oregon’s marquee showdown with the USC Trojans in Eugene this Saturday.

Here is a full transcript of everything Lanning said during his 18-minute presser.

Opening statement

Lanning: Obviously a great weekend for our guys. I certainly walked away feeling like we could play a lot better, but was really pleased with our team’s response throughout the game. A lot of young guys stepping up and making a big impact was great for us to see and a lot to build off of. So, we had a great day today. Guys really went in there and attacked what they gotta get better at. And obviously playing a special opponent with a lot of talent on that side of the ball; a team that’s got talent in every phase. So we have to be ready to attack them and play them well and they obviously do a great job of scoring points. So, something we had to be prepared for.

Q: What did you see from the Cal game that you guys need to clean up?

Lanning: These guys come to work, man. They’re wired the right way. It’s always about hearing the message, not the tone. I thought our guys did a phenomenal job of identifying exactly what they want to do to get a little bit better. Right now, this part of the season, it’s about finding something you need a little bit better at and growing that 1 percent.

Q: On the penalty on Steven Jones (from the Cal game), was there something that happened...

Lanning: We sent it in to see what the interpretation is as well because we didn’t necessarily see it the same way.

Q: What about the back-to-back plays on Bucky, where he got lifted up, and when there was helmet-to-helmet?

Lanning: No, you know, he’s lowering his helmet and the defensive player is lowering theirs. So, I could see how that could be something that was sent to him. But that would have been more ticky-tacky on our part in my opinion. And you know, obviously, he gets lifted up but that happens sometimes in the passion of the game.

Q: Have you guys faced an offense that reminds you of USC?

Lanning: I don’t think we’ve seen an offense quite like this offense. It’s really unique. Obviously, the closest would be Washington in some ways with the explosive passes and a quarterback who can make every single throw. They’ve got great weapons. They’re strong in the offensive front with their O-line. They’ve got a really good running game — MarShawn (Lloyd) is running the ball really really well. Seems like they get into positive plays really easily and the shot game is always there. I mean, (Caleb Williams) extends plays and holds on to the ball longer than anybody in college football and he can make every throw. So, that’s dangerous if you’re not able to get him down on the ground and not able to cover for a long time. So, they present a lot of challenges. I mean, they use the tight end in the passing game. They run the ball well and they’re a scheme team. They do what they do really well, but they’re gonna bring new wrinkles into each game that you have to be prepared for. They’re one of the harder opponents to prepare for.

Q: How do you strike a balance with the cinematic recaps of giving fans a look behind the scenes but not revealing too much?

Lanning: Yeah, I mean, I get to see them before they get released and every once in a while we’ll make some edits. But I think it’s good for everyone to be able to see the work that our players put in and the preparation that goes into success. I think it provides a great glimpse of all the work that does go into your 60-minute game. There’s so much more than just obviously those 60 minutes. So our video staff has done an unbelievable job capturing some great content. Really, the other piece that’s fun for me with those is it gets to highlight the great people in our program. Not me — the players, the coaches, the video staff. Just everybody who touches our program makes such a great impact. I think it tells a great story about our team and each week and how each week is unique and different.

Q: When there are so many elements that make USC’s offense so dangerous, how do you focus on containing that?

Lanning: You try to take them all away. No, it’s hard. You talk about trying to make a team play left-handed. This is a hard team to make play left-handed because they do so many things really, really well. I think you have to be sound when you play these guys. Their quarterback has kind of seen it all and has a lot of experience. So it’s hard to pitch something to him that he hasn’t really probably prepared for already. So, it’s about being sound, being smart being patient, and when you get the opportunity to change up a look or provide and create pressure, you want to be able to do that. But it can’t be a feast or famine mentality. You can’t expect this guy not to have some success in this in this game. He’s going to have some success. It’s really about how we respond to that success and it’s about the combination of plays over time.

Q: How do you gameplan for an athlete who is as dynamic as Caleb Williams?

Lanning: Fortunately for us, we’ve played a lot of good quarterbacks this year. But Caleb is certainly a hard one to prepare for — one, because of his ability as an athlete. He can run he’s got great speed. He’s really strong in the lower body, he’s a hard guy to get to the ground. But again, the prep is every day. It’s the drill work we do — you have to do some particular drills throughout the week to really prep you for the difference in play for him and how he plays. Like I said, holding the ball for long periods of time, and being able to keep his eyes downfield to create explosive plays. That’s one of the things that probably makes him most unique. Then, the fact that you really can’t outrun his arm. It doesn’t matter how far the receivers are down the field, he’s always got the ability to throw it and does a great job of that. So he’s a tough one to prepare for.

Q: How big of a recruiting opportunity is the weekend for you guys?

Lanning: Yeah, it’s gonna be huge. It’s huge for the atmosphere that our fans create. It’s huge for how our team performs. Recruiting in these scenarios, you don’t get to spend as much time with the recruits as you want because you’re spending a lot of time preparing your team. But that will be a big, big piece of this weekend.

Q: What are some things you saw from the film from Saturday’s game that you weren’t thinking about right after the game was over?

Lanning: I don’t know if there was something that I wasn’t thinking about, in particular. It’s probably a really good question. I just don’t know that I can think of — I can’t remember exactly what I was thinking about after the game. I was probably a little pissed off. But I don’t remember anything particular.

Q: How do you prepare for USC’s defensive coordinator situation?

Lanning: I mean, there’s a lot of thoughts that kind of go into that. But Coach Odom has actually called it before — last time Oregon played against Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl. So I think there’ll be a lot of similarities to some of the stuff that they already do. I think that that group will probably have some new wrinkles that we potentially haven’t seen. But it all comes back to what football is all about: Tackling, blocking, breaking tackles, making catches. So all those things are going to hold true. And we have to play to our identity. Hopefully when people watch this team — on both sides of the ball — you see an identity. Our identity has to hold true regardless of what scheme we see against us.

Q: What is your relationship with some of the other Oregon coaches, and have you taken any lessons from any of the other coaches?

Lanning: I take a ton of lessons from all of them. Somebody actually asked me last week what makes Oregon so special and it’s funny — the day before I just got off the phone with Coach Altman. He was just calling to say, ‘Hey, congrats so far on the season. We want you to know we’re cheering for you.’ I think that is so unique here. Coach Waz sent me a text earlier today and he’s down in the weight room getting his workout and he’s asking me where I’m at and told him I’m working. There are so many coaches at this university and make this place so special. I think that speaks to the job that Rob Mullins has done as far as creating a culture in our athletic department where all of us want to spend time with each other. I got to see Casey; we went to our walkthrough because of the rain over at Matthew Knight Arena. And the fact that we get to use that facility, even though we’re not on the basketball team, I think that speaks to the collaboration that exists in our program and our university. But I have a great relationship with several coaches. I get excited when I get to spend time around the coaches in our program, whether it’s helping Missy out recruiting in softball. I want to do anything I can to help the program and they do the exact same thing for us. I love it when I see coaches for other sports at our practices, bouncing ideas off of each other, ways that we can motivate our players and maximize their ability on the field. But that’s something that, to me, is very unique to Oregon I haven’t experienced that really anywhere else that I’ve coached. And it’s a really special situation here with the coaches that we have here.

Q: How do you think Jestin Jacobs is progressing and what are you still hoping to see from him?

Lanning: Yeah, I’m really proud of Jestin and the way that he’s approached everything this season and he’s certainly made a great impact for us. He’s proven to be a solid tackler. He’s tough to block. I think his size and his athleticism make him a really special talent on the field and I’m excited to see him continue to grow.

Q: What goes into really building a truly deep defense in your eyes?

Lanning: Yeah, I mean, it starts with talent acquisition. You have to get guys that can play to the level, the standard, that you expect from your team. If you have 11 guys that can play the standard, you play 11 guys. Fortunately for us, we’ve been able to acquire great talent that can play to a higher standard. We’ve also been able to develop talent and have guys that are willing to develop. So, we have a lot of guys that come in here and then work their tail off and I always like watching the season and seeing the guys that really aren’t involved early in the season who become more involved as the season grows because it tells you that they’re getting better as players. But, strength in numbers, right? The more you can play at a high level, the better your team’s going to be down the stretch. The healthier your team is going to be down the stretch and the better effort that you’ll actually exude on the field.

Q: How do you get your defensive backs ready for the challenge of Caleb Williams extending plays?

Lanning: You just go out there and run routes and tell them to cover for 10 seconds in practice. You extend plays in practice. … It’s hard to replicate because it’s not necessarily done on time. You have to kind of replicate untimed downs and situations where the ball can be extended for a long time and create that in practice.

Q: How do you feel about 7:30 p.m. kickoffs?

Lanning: I mean, I don’t pick it. So let’s play. I mean, we’ve got to play a lot of early games. I’m expecting an elite atmosphere from our fans. They gotta maybe start a little bit later in the day and not get too excited before the game starts. But night games are fun. I always liked Friday night lights in high school, so I’m all for it.

Q: What makes their receiver group unique and who would you compare them to?

Lanning: Yeah, I think they’re probably different than anyone we’ve played so far this year because of the amount of players that they play at the position. They have a lot of quality players that can play at a lot of different positions and they utilize their personnel well. But there are a lot of receivers that get a lot of snaps and they have tremendous speed in the slot. It’s also unique how they move their wideouts around; you’ll see them line up in the backfield, lineup in the C-area. Branch is an elite returner and that shows up. But they’ve got a lot of talent really across the board when it comes to wideout

Q: What are the challenges of covering Duce Robinson?

Lanning: Yeah, big body big catch radius. He’s a guy that we spent time recruiting coming out of high school. He’s a great kid; comes from a phenomenal family. Is obviously having a good year for them and developing and growing there. But there he looks good. He’s a good player, and he’s definitely a red-area target that you always have to be aware of with his size. They’ve found some unique ways to use him.

Q: What is your understanding of the Oregon – USC rivalry?

Lanning: Yeah, I think every game around here matters. Right? And I think certainly this one, especially the amount of time we spend recruiting in California, the battles that exist just in every sport between our universities, this is one that obviously means a lot to a lot of people but I can promise you nobody wants to win this game more than myself and our players. They’re working really hard for a great result on Saturday. And obviously, it’s a really good team that we have to go play.

Q: What’s your relationship like with Lincoln Riley? Have you spent much time with him before?

Lanning: Actually, you know, when I was at Georgia, I was actually recruiting Caleb (Williams) We were both at the field at Gonzaga in DC, so I got to be around him a little bit there. I’ve never spent a ton of time with Lincoln. I’ve seen him obviously at Pac-12 meetings and things like that. He’s a guy I have a ton of respect for. Obviously he’s had an elite offense for a really long time. My very first glacier clinic as a high school coach, he was the wide receivers coach at Texas Tech and I was coaching wideouts at Parkhill South and I went and listened to him. He certainly doesn’t remember me. I’ve never really told anybody that story. But I took some good notes, so hopefully they pay off on Saturday. We’ll see.

Q: What makes Bear Alexander such a tough matchup?

Lanning: “Bear’s a dominant player. He has elite get off. He has great strength. He’s very disruptive. I think you want to know the impact of his play, look at the first half of the Cal game where he didn’t get to play and then watch him come in the next few series. When he does come in and the impact that he makes, he’s a guy that you have to know where he’s at at all times. You know, but I think our front loves that challenge of having the opportunity to go against a really quality player and quality opponent.”

Q: How is Daymon David progressing, and what does the competition look like behind Evan Williams and Steve Stephens and trying to replace Bryan Addison?

Lanning: He’s a guy who’s gotten better and better each week. Unfortunately for him, he’s been plagued with some injuries since he’s gotten here. So it’s great to see him healthy out there. This guy has a wonderful attitude — every single day he comes to work, preps, gives our team a great look when he has to give us a great look. When he gets an opportunity to go in and play and compete for us, he’s done a good job. So looking for him to continue to grow.

Q: What makes Jordan James so special?

Lanning: Yeah, I think the experience that Jordan has gotten has paid off over time. The plan that our offensive staff had for him coming in and how he’s continued to grow — I think he had some good catches out of the backfield. This last game I know we had a critical third-down catch that was really special. He did exactly what you coach him to do when it checking down after the after a pressure. Bo is getting hit right after he throws it and Jordan makes great catch and gets down the field and converts for first down. But he runs tough. He doesn’t go down first contact. He trusts his track and his reads. He’s in a great room. That room is a really connected room and I think he’s done a great job for us.

Q: How do you get about trying to contain Zachariah Branch in the return game, and how will you go about handling Grant Meadors’ redshirt situation now that he has played in three games?

Lanning: Yeah, we’ll continue to assess that within our program. I think that a common thought always with a guy like Zachariah is don’t kick the ball to him at all. And there’s some truth and benefit to that. But then there’s also something to be said for your coverage units. It’s not as easy as people think to say, ‘Okay, I’m gonna kick it here. Or I’m gonna kick it out of bounds; kick it to another side of the field.’ Because sometimes you create more field space for a dynamic returner like Branch, you know, so I think we just have to have a great plan. We have to have a leak coverage. has been really good. There’s no secret about it; he’s probably the best right now in the nation. And I don’t know if there’s anybody that’s really close second, so he’s one that we have to be aware of and make sure we have great coverage plans for and do a good job of kicking, and hopefully we avoid the opportunity to punt so we don’t have to see him in action.