Oregon Coach Dan Lanning Drops Candid Response to Fourth Down Decision

Two days after the clock hit triple zeros and Oklahoma State Cowboys stormed the field in triumph at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma, coach Dan Lanning sat at the podium upstairs in the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex in Eugene for a tense press conference.

The coach of the No. 21 Oregon Ducks provided an honest response when asked about his decision to go for it on 4th-and-8 on the team’s final offensive drive. With multiple days to debrief the 39-31 loss, there was no hiding behind needing to review the film.

Lanning’s response when asked if he regretted the decision was blunt: “Absolutely.”

Lanning went on over the course of the next 17 minutes, breaking down where the Ducks go from here, how each member of the program shows accountability and how their goals can remain attainable.

If He Regrets the Fourth Down Decision:

“You know, again, it’s always easy to go back and say after the fact, I wish we were able to create a more fourth down advantageous the play before. Bad decision, right?”

“And numbers might say, ‘Hey, that’s the right decision.’ It’s the wrong decision. It didn’t work. We were punting really well all day. What we weren’t doing was stopping the other team we were playing all day.”

“They would have been probably more fourth down advantageous to go for it on their side of the ball if we did flip the field. And then ultimately, why you go for it on fourth is what happened, right? They end up kicking a field goal.”

“You’re down one touchdown on a two-point conversion, and you still have a chance to go on to win the game in two minutes if we don’t fumble the ball. But did that work out good? No, absolutely not. Wrong decision on my part. And so I learned too.”

Opening Statement:

“Appreciate you guys being here. Obviously, you go back and you analyze the film after the game, and it really looks very similar to what it felt like on the field. You know, we did not perform in any level that was winning football.”

“I think the only area of the game that we probably you know played winning football in was in special teams, but certainly lost on offense, certainly lost on defense. It was a great environment there at Oklahoma State.”

“They did a great job preparing their players. We did not, like I said from the beginning. I take complete accountability for that. Everything that happens in the organization, and then we have to perform better as players, as coaches, as an entire unit. And I know our guys are ready to ready to be able to do that. But you have to prove it. You can’t just say it. You got to show it.”

Oregon Offense’s Tell:

“In general, you have tendencies. At times, they’ll show up. We have to do a better job policing that, for sure. Something we have to search and make sure we do a good job of. You know, that’s something we have to be better at, right? Really simple.”

“On the same note, there’s going to be times, based on looks, that, you have more tells than others, and sometimes you can take advantage of and use those. So, you want to sell certain looks for certain things, but I’d say that’s something we can be better at. One of the things we definitely addressed after the game.”

Quarterback Dante Moore Not Speaking to Media:

“I don’t think he chose not to. Did you know he was getting an IV? He was getting two IVs after the game. He was dehydrated. I mean, this guy, he’ll be speaking to you guys tomorrow. Any question that you want to ask him, you can certainly ask him. But I don’t know if you ever given an interview while you’re getting an IV at the same time and getting treatment.”

“Yeah, but does that make a little more sense? Yeah, that would make a lot – and then there’s a bus and a flight you’re trying to catch as well. But Dante will be here tomorrow. You can talk to Dante, right? But yeah, he’s cramping up on the field.”

“I think the first thing that we’re going to do postgame is get treatment, right? Have any of our players never like not been available to talk? Yeah, that’s one. And he was getting two IVs after the game. Got one, and then he got another one.”

“That’s a product of being in a in a tough environment, great heat. He was cramping up on the field. So sorry he wasn’t able to give you an interview. You could ask him about it tomorrow.”

That Information Not Being Made Public:

“Yeah, what, should it be? Should it be? So, right before you write your article, they should say, ‘Hey, just so you guys know.’”

“Well, you misconstrued it. You can always ask me. Good job.”

How Being a Player-Led Team Shows Up After a Loss:

“Well, I tell you, at this point, there’s been a lack of leadership, right? Myself included, right? And I think so. One, it starts with accountability, but it’s got to show up. So again, can’t talk about it. You got to see it, right? You have to see it.”

“So we haven’t seen it to this point. Saw it today at practice. We got to see it consistently, right? We didn’t practice well enough last Wednesday to think we’re gonna have a great performance on Saturday.”

“Mistakes you make in practice gonna show up, and somebody has to speak on it. Yeah, coaches have to speak on it. They have to demand it. Players have to do it, right? And we all own that. We all wear that. So hopefully, leadership will start showing up, right? Or we won’t have the result that we want.”

Brandon Finney Jr.’s Fit a Nickel:

“Yeah, Brandon’s good player, really, regardless of wherever he lines up. And he had some plays that he certainly needed back in that game too. Some high discipline issues. Played a lot of snaps on defense, and that’s partially because we didn’t control the ball on offense the way we needed control the ball. We weren’t efficient, you know.”

“Partially that’s because we didn’t get stops on defense, or when we did, it was a face mask, right, or a penalty or an explosive play that kept a drive going. But Brandon’s proven that he could play for us. We felt like we were getting hurt at times in the slot.”

“He moved in there and provided some help there, and then was also like really good and some series overall. Whether he was a blitzer or covered in the slot, and did a good job there.”

The Disconnect Between Prep and Performance:

“You got to learn hard lessons through hard performances, and this is by far the worst performance that we’ve had since I’ve been here in my career. I mean we’ve had bad performances, right? Teams have bad performances.”

“We’ve always had one side of the ball pick up the other side of the ball, and even in this game, we’re ahead in the fourth quarter with an opportunity to be able to have success and win this game. So maybe the hard lesson for us comes from the loss.”

“Maybe that’s where the response will come. I felt like our players did respond today. Again, you’ll see what that looks like on Saturday. All we know how to do is go to work, right? And that’s exactly we did. As soon as we landed here, we’re back here at work, back up here early. Guys put in a lot of time and effort to get it right, and it has to change on the field.”

“Or again, there’s accountability for that, right? For me, in my position, for every coach on our staff, for every player in that room, it’s got to be a certain way. What I will say is, we have capable players, and they do care, right?”

“But you have to hold them accountable on the field to do what you’re asking to do, and then we have to make sure we have a good enough plan, which we didn’t have. So, when all those things collide, that’s when you have a bad result like that game.”

“And there’s no excuses. It’s never okay for us to perform the way that we performed. That’s not that’s not the right way to perform. That’s not the right way to go. But we got to go attack it and fix it. And what I know is you don’t let something that goes wrong affect you again down the road. You learn from it.”

“You know, the great things that come from losses is learning lessons. We had a lot of learning lessons on Saturday. Hopefully, we take advantage of them.”

The Identity of the Team Now and What He Wants It to Be:

“Yeah, I think one of the big clear ones is we don’t win on first down, and when you don’t win on first down on defense or on offense, you put yourself in bad situations on second and third down, right? So, we have to be more efficient as a team on first down overall.”

“We got to be creative in the run game and be able to set that up. We’ve been kind of a feast or famine on offense when it talks about its explosive play. Outside the two explosive passes, really on Saturday, a couple runs by Dierre. There’s not a lot that really pops out to you that we did successfully.”

“So, we have to do that defensively. We have to be able to tackle, and we have to create different looks up front to create some negative plays because we haven’t created negative plays. That scheme, right? That’s also on both sides of the ball.”

“That’s also performance and execution. But playing ahead of the change is a good place for it to start. I haven’t been a lot a part of a lot of games where you have two takeaways that you’re able to create. One, a defensive score, and you’re not able to have success. And I think that’s just an indicator of how poorly we played, really on both sides of the ball.”

If There’s Still a Discipline Issue:

“Well, when penalties hurt you one week and they hurt you the next week, I think that’s an indicator that we’re not resolving a problem. You know, when one guy jumps offsides in one game and then turns around and jumps offsides in the next game, his level of focus isn’t where it needs to be, right?”

“A lot of things can contribute to that, but it has to be better. And that being said, there’s going to be aggressive penalties within games. There’s things that we can coach better, right? Some of those happened at times, like the face mask grab by Finney. That’s kind of a fluke deal that happens, you know.”

“But to have an offsides on a 4th-and-1 when you spend extensive time on it. That’s inexcusable. Freshman jumping offsides on a short-yardage situation, you know, in a new environment, first road game. Sometimes that’s going to happen, but you have to be able to overcome those circumstances. Ultimately, we can’t have that. We can’t be penalized like that and expect to have great success.”

Availability Updates for Defensive Back Carl Williams IV and Tight End Jamari Johnson:

“Yeah, still evaluating it with Jamari. We’ll see what that looks like. I think I mentioned last week he might be down for a few, so we’ll see if he’s able to get back where he’s able to perform.”

“Carl had a, got nicked in the game. I won’t speak on what it is, and we’ll see again. Same thing, evaluation.”

“Unfortunately, Trent Ferguson is probably gonna be done for the year. Had a knee injury, so you won’t probably get to see him again. You know, I feel for that kid because he’s worked really hard.”

Pass Protection:

“Yeah, poor, really poor. And I think, again, you want to create opportunities to help, but especially when you talk about three-man rush losing, right? It’s not good. But when teams drop eight, there’s not a lot of open windows to throw the ball, right? And that’s where you have to have a better one. We have to have a better plan, but you have to hold up in protection in those moments. And they were able to take advantage of our tackles.”

“We weren’t able to get enough help from our guards. We got to get more in and out protection from our guards to help on the tackles. You know, Poncho played a lot of winning football. We got to put him on an island a little bit more, right? We also got to chip and protect at times. But yeah, it wasn’t good enough.”

“And then again, that all goes back to first down execution, where you’re not forcing yourself to throw it on second and 10, 3 and 11, right? All those things add up. And then giving a chance for a team to tee off. Not to mention if you’re throwing or showing, you know, tendencies on what looks like pass or run.”

How They Can Keep Their Goals Attainable:

“A good performance today, like stop looking in the future. Everybody wants to make a prediction before the season starts. You know, it doesn’t matter until you play the games. We’ve seen it every year with teams that are supposed to be good that aren’t good.”

“We have the capability to be good. We have good enough players. We have good enough coaches. I haven’t coached them well enough. I haven’t done a good enough job, so I know I can do better. So that’s where it starts.”

“And guess what? If I do better, I bet this team gets better, right? And if this team gets better and we play like we’re capable of playing, then we could have a team that could be pretty good. But it doesn’t matter unless we focus on today. Let’s stop worrying about tomorrow. Let’s stop worrying about the end of the season. Let’s worry about today.”

Where Adjustments Come From:

“You see it. You got to make sure that you have answers to the test too, right? So, when leverages change, you have to have schemes that you feel confident in that are going to be able to adapt to what they’re doing, you know, as well. And again, a lot of it starts with our ability to run the ball and our ability to stop the run, right?”

“Because you make people play left-handed when you can make sure that you’re winning in those situations. And neither one of those situations we won. It wasn’t that they did something extremely exotic. It’s about okay, this is open. We got to make sure we hit it right.”

“How do we make sure that it gets delivered? It’s about making sure like this block has to be made right. But yeah, there’s some stuff they did that was different right, and they had some success. And some of the stuff they did in the second half they didn’t show in the first half. So, it’s not so much an adjustment. It’s about being able to play out your camp rules and take advantage of what’s there.”

If The Team Has Met Since the Postgame Locker Room:

“Yeah, we’ve met. We’ve met multiple times, and the guys have the right mindset. But again, those were words, right? There was action today. There was a good practice today, and then again, we’ll see what the response looks like.”

How Execution on Fourth Down Gets Addressed:

“We have to be a team that can convert in those situations, or I have to be. We have to not put ourselves in that situation and go for it. So, it’s those two things. I mean, we all saw fourth downs that could have been completed and had success, right? They weren’t.”

“So, you have to live in reality of are we able to execute on fourth down and convert when we’re not, right? Eventually, that’s going to affect your aggressiveness in the way we play and could have and should have probably affected mine sometimes.”

“But it’s hard for me to say on a 4th-and-1or 4th-and-2. Now, 4th-and-8, yeah, dumb, right? But 4th-and-1, right? We’ve converted a lot of those and had a lot of success in my time here. Goes back to execution. Goes back to having a great plan and be able to execute in those situations.”

Leadership Since the Oklahoma State Loss:

“I think everybody wants to go to work. I didn’t see enough leadership in the game, right? I didn’t see it. There wasn’t enough. And again, obviously, the result speaks to that. So, it’s easy to find a lot of things that weren’t right, and that there were a lot of things that were wrong.”

“We have players that absolutely care, right? I didn’t watch the game and say, ‘Man, there’s no effort here,’ right? I didn’t watch the game like, ‘This guy’s trying to screw up.’ I didn’t watch that. So again, it goes back to us as coaches making sure that we are accountable.”

“As coaches for what our plan is, and again, our players are accountable for what their job is, or somebody else needs to be on the field if they aren’t. But we have guys that care. Being careless and caring are two different things. Being careless at moments that showed up in the game, and then leadership has shown up, but it’s got to show up more.”

Offensive Lineman Douglas Utu and Running Back Jordon Davison Updates:

“Yeah, I mean he played a factor for us for sure. Jordon’s going to be good. Doug, I think we’ll be able to have back this week. Obviously, he was banged up, you know, coming out of week one, but I feel like Doug is going to be able to be able to help us this week.”

Freshmen Receivers Messiah Hampton and Hudson Lewis’ Performances:

“No, it’s more of a sign of you have guys that can play winning football. They go out and play winning football. Thought Messiah did a great job. Thought Hudson did a good job when they’re in there.”

“You know, again, in that environment, hot game, right? You’re going to be able to play guys that are fresh and able to run at a high level. Those guys were performed in practice, so then they’ve been able to go out and execute a game. And I thought they both had some really solid plays while they were in there.”

Lapses in Adjustment They Could’ve Been Better At:

“Yeah, absolutely. I thought I credited to both. Like it was execution and it was scheme. Like we were out coached, we were outplayed, right? And then there’s also moments you watch the game and or watch the play call, and you’re like, ‘This should be a great play.’ And it wasn’t, right? So, it’s a combination of all that.”

‘Like I said, I think I’ve said it multiple times. We were out coached, we were outplayed. All those things showed up, and we didn’t execute. So good luck having success in the game.”

If He’s Happy to Have a Shorter Week in This Situation:

“Yeah, I’m anxious to go play. I think all of our players are anxious to go play. You had to pack a lot into a short week, but I’m certainly anxious to get our guys back out in the field.”

“We’ve enjoyed being able to get out to practice and go attacking, get back to work, and a lot of times when you’re focused on, okay, where do you have to improve? The best thing you can do is go right back to work. So been pleased with that process so far. There’s still some time left in this week to be able to go do that, but having the turnaround Friday would be a big positive for us in that standpoint.”

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