Dan Lanning not interested in ‘fake news,’ injury report questions

As Oregon and Washington prepare to square off in a pivotal rivalry matchup on Friday, the question will be if the Ducks are fully healthy coming off the bye week. Dan Lanning’s Wednesday press conference started off with questions about injuries, and he didn’t seem like he wanted to talk about them.

When asked if Jestin Jacobs would play this week, Lanning responded by saying “we’ll see.” Jacobs hasn’t played yet this season after transferring from Iowa, but it’s still not entirely clear if he’ll suit up for Oregon against Washington. Scoop Duck’s Jarrid Denney said Jacobs was a “full-go” on Wednesday.

The next question was about Brandon Dorlus, who was out of Tuesday’s practice. He was back on the field Wednesday, and Lanning didn’t sound concerned when he met with reporters. However, he reiterated he didn’t want to talk about players being hurt.

“You guys are like fake news, man,” Lanning said. “I don’t want to talk about injuries. I don’t want to talk about people not being here. But he should be fine. We gotta stop letting you guys come to practice, I guess.”

Saturday’s game between Oregon and Washington is shaping up to be one of the biggest games of the college football season so far. Both teams have Heisman Trophy favorites at quarterback, which will make things really interesting.

Bo Nix enters Week 7 leading the nation with an 80.4% completion percentage. He has also thrown for 15 touchdowns and averaged 291.8 passing yards per game to help Oregon to a perfect 5-0 record through five games this year.

On the Washington side, Michael Penix Jr. has emerged once again as the Heisman favorite amid a lightning fast start to the season. He leads the FBS with 399.8 passing yards per game and has 16 passing touchdowns to his name, as well.

It’s shaping up to be quite a battle as Oregon tries to avenge last year’s loss, which came on a Washington field goal in the final minute. According to Dan Lanning, the Ducks don’t need any extra motivation with that in mind.

“I don’t think it’s necessary,” Lanning said. “Every one of our players knows exactly what this game means to them, personally, in that room and then also to everybody that’s a Duck fan. They want to win. When they step on the field, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing, they want to go out there and compete at a high level.”