Urban Meyer to Dan Lanning: ‘You are a pain in the ass to the team you’re playing’

There have been plenty of debates about Oregon and their resume over the past few weeks. Following Tuesday’s College Football Playoff rankings, ESPN’s Greg McElroy laid out why Alabama clearly has a better one. Either way, the Ducks are No. 5 while the Crimson Tide remain stuck at No. 8.

What you cannot deny about Oregon is how Dan Lanning‘s team is playing on the field. From start to finish, they are dominating whoever they are playing. Since losing to Washington in Seattle, six consecutive wins have been stacked up by an average of nearly 26 points per game.

Urban Meyer, who has been a big proponent of the Ducks for a few weeks now, believes they are the best team in the country. When watching the tape, Meyer sees similarities between Lanning and what he was doing while on an incredible run at Ohio State.

“If you remember our offense, it’s called the spread offense,” Meyer said during Urban’s Take with On3’s Tim May. “Everything was done for a reason to drive the defense nuts. Every year, I would study, Dan Mullen would study, Ryan Day would study what drives defenses crazy. And we’re doing it. The same thing on the other side, I would sit in with the offense and I would find out what drove the offense crazy. Would walk over to the defense and say ‘Let’s do this.’

“Oregon, does that exactly. I talked to their coach too. I said ‘I’m watching you guys and it’s just bringing back these great memories. You are a pain in the ass to the team you’re playing. Every snap.’ He started laughing and said ‘That’s exactly what we try to do.’ To say Oregon is not the best team in the country, there would be some people to fight you on that… I would not bet against Oregon.”

Before having the opportunity to prove itself on the national scene, Oregon has one final Pac-12 hurdle to overcome. Washington will be the opponent in the conference championship game, where the Ducks are nearly double-digit favorites. Getting revenge on the lone regular season loss will be a good feeling as well.

If Lanning can close out the program’s time in the Pac-12 with a title, we should have the opportunity to see them against another national power — maybe Georgia or Michigan. That’s when Oregon’s full capability should be on display, with the chance to win a championship.