Dan Lanning addresses critical areas the Oregon Ducks must improve heading into Week 2
Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning wasn't thrilled with the process on Saturday, and he let his team know it. Oregon won 24-14, but the discourse surrounding the team is anything but positive right now. On Monday night, Lanning met with the media and shed some light on how the team has responded to the […]
Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning wasn't thrilled with the process on Saturday, and he let his team know it. Oregon won 24-14, but the discourse surrounding the team is anything but positive right now. On Monday night, Lanning met with the media and shed some light on how the team has responded to the first game, which was much closer than anticipated.
"You look again, you go back, and you look at the overall game, and you're winning in a lot of categories. The categories that we didn't win are situational football, and the way we ran the ball, right? We had the ball twice before two minutes before half, and we didn't score. We had an opportunity to kick, didn't make the kick, and didn't score in the middle eight, and generally, that's been something we've done well," Lanning said.
The "middle eight," as he calls it, are the four minutes before halftime and the four minutes after. That period of time requires discipline, clock management, and execution, and it's an area the Ducks have typically excelled.
In Saturday's game, as Lanning mentioned, Oregon had two drives in the last four minutes of the first half. With 1:26 left in the second quarter at Idaho's 22 yard line, quarterback Dillon Gabriel was sacked and fumbled, which was recovered by Idaho. Oregon then caused Idaho to turn it over on downs and got the ball back with 19 seconds at their own 42 yard line. They weren't able to generate an explosive play to get them into scoring position before halftime.
Following the half, with Oregon getting the ball first, they went three and out, losing eight yards before punting. Their next possession, they failed to convert on 4th and 3.
The middle eight, typically a strongpoint for Oregon, was instead a microcosm of the sloppiness with which the Ducks played throughout that game. It simply wasn't good enough.
"We didn't play well enough, and there's, you know, miscommunications that we have to clean up, but certainly room for improvement. They know they didn't play to the standard. We can be better," Lanning said.
And they'll have to be better, especially later in the season against top competition.
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