Year 3 of the Dan Lanning era starts on Saturday. He has enjoyed a brilliant start to his tenure at Oregon, going 22-5, but there is still much left undone for the Ducks. This is Oregon’s first year in the B1G and it is going to require a team effort to get the Ducks to the promised land, a National Championship. Mr. FishDuck took a moment away from his fun at casino en ligne to offer feedback on some big games for Coach Lanning.
But along the way, Lanning and the team have played some games that are now a part of the team’s DNA, and bedrock to the culture. They weren’t all wins, but they were all important, and here are four of those games.
4. Colorado 2023
Oregon vs. Colorado was anything but an exciting game on Oregon’s schedule for the entirely of Colorado’s time in the Pac-12. That was, until last year. Deion Sanders took over college football media and Colorado quickly became a media darling, especially with surprising wins against TCU and Nebraska, and then a close win against Colorado State.
The Buffaloes entered Autzen undefeated and looked to add another win to their streak — and some in the media hyped up the possibility.
But Lanning and the Ducks weren’t going to have that. This game was marked by Lanning’s incredible locker room talk, highlighted on Ducks vs. Them, where he declared, “They’re playing for clicks; we’re playing for wins” and that the Ducks are “rooted in substance.”
This speech has become part of the Oregon culture and has been a point of contention for Colorado fans ever since.
This was a strange game where it was incredibly personal, but the Ducks went out and treated it with brutal efficiency. This game wasn’t even close, as the Ducks won 42-6 and the Buffaloes departed Autzen with one of their worst losses of the season.
3. Washington 2023
This could be either the regular season or Pac-12 Championship game, as both produced similar results. But the regular season game is more important because that loss has become a greater part of the Ducks’ team mentality. After this loss, it was clear the team treated each game with even more seriousness and they out-matched all their opponents for the rest of the regular season — to the extent where there weren’t any close games until the Pac-12 Championship.
Dan Lanning leads the Ducks onto the field.
(Photo by Truong Nguyen)
Perhaps the biggest sticking point among fans is Lanning’s call at the end of the first half in the first game against Washington, where he opted to go for it on fourth down rather than take the three-point field goal (the three points that would have led to a tie game at the end of regulation). This was a decision built in Lanning’s culture where he was going to be aggressive.
The biggest problem with this play isn’t his choice to go for it, but rather the play call. The play had Bo Nix roll out to his right and try to thread the needle on a pass to the edge of the endzone. This play cut out half the field of play on a critical down with short yardage. It went against so much of the Oregon culture of physicality, in a game in which the Ducks didn’t even attempt to use their amazing jumbo package.
Then at the end of the game when the Ducks needed a first down to run out the rest of the clock and ice the game, Lanning again went for it on fourth down around mid-field. This call is perhaps more suspect, as punting the ball deep into Washington territory would have given his defense more chances to get a stop. But he choose to go for it on fourth, and with another play that saw Nix roll out, this time to his left, and try to make a throw in a tight window when the other side of the field had guys running free.
Oregon was getting cute when they needed to be efficient.
The play calling here hurt the Ducks. It was something that Lanning took to heart, and the very next week we saw the return of the jumbo formation and Lanning began to take more surefire field goals.
2. Georgia 2022
This was the worst game of Lanning’s tenure at Oregon by a long shot. The final score was 49-3 and it was a beatdown of historic proportions. The only thing that tempers this loss is that Georgia was the team that won the National Championship, and really no one got close to touching them in the regular season. This was one of the best National Championship teams of all time.
This game has become the measuring stick for Lanning and the Ducks. Oregon didn’t have the players it needed to compete with Georgia, and needed to acquire them. And at the end of the 2022 season saw a massive roster overhaul that included an influx of defensive linemen and a complete rework of the linebackers. This was the game that made it clear what Oregon under Lanning needed to be, and the Ducks weren’t there yet.
Oregon runs the ball against Georgia.
(Photo by Tom Corno)
1. Washington State 2022
The Ducks entered Martin Stadium and were projected to win the game by more than a touchdown, but as Duck fans we should know playing Washington State has been far from a guaranteed win.
So when the Ducks took the field against the Cougars, it didn’t take long for the game to go sideways. It started with Cam Ward slicing apart Oregon’s defense for a quick touchdown. The Ducks had an explosive offense outside of the red zone but were forced to settle for field goals.
Then disaster hit as Nix threw a pick-six less than 5 yards from the end-zone. The first half ended with a score of 17-9 with all the momentum on Washington State’s side.
The second half saw something that has become a critical part of Lanning’s imprint on this program. The Ducks fought back. The defense was still suspect, but second-half adjustments helped to slow the Cougars.
The offense started to punch in touchdowns.
Noah Whittington running through two Washington State defenders.
(Photo by Harry Caston)
It was messy, but the Ducks walked away with a 44-41 victory. It came on the back of grit and determination. It proved the team had the ability to fight back and take a win even when it feels like nothing is going their way.
The following season’s game against Texas Tech felt much the same, and yet again in all the chaos and the sloppy play the Ducks managed to find a way of winning in west Texas. Elite teams find a way to win even if it’s messy.
With the expanded playoff and the first year in the B1G, Lanning and the Ducks are going to rely on the culture built by these DNA games more than ever. What other games would you consider DNA games under the Lanning era?
David Marsh
Portland, Oregon
Top Photo From YouTube ESPN Video
Natalie Liebhaber, the FishDuck.com Volunteer Editor for this article, works in technology in SLC, Utah.
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David Marsh is a high school social studies teacher in Portland, Oregon. As a teacher he is known for telling puns to his students who sometimes laugh out of sympathy, and being both eccentric about history and the Ducks.
David graduated from the University of Oregon in 2012 with Majors in: Medieval Studies, Religious Studies, and Geography. David began following Ducks Football after being in a car accident in 2012; finding football something new and exciting to learn about during this difficult time in his life. Now, he cannot see life without Oregon football.