Dan Lanning shares what he will miss about the Pac-12

Dan Lanning has been wildly successful since taking over the Oregon Ducks and joining the Pac-12 Conference, but times are changing for the program.

The Ducks are headed to the Big Ten. Things are going to change immensely, but Lanning’s team was at least able to see the Pac-12 off in grand fashion.

His team may not have been able to capture victory in the Pac-12 title game against the Washington Huskies, but Oregon put up an admirable fight all season long, consistency ranking among the top teams in the nation.

Lanning and the Ducks will miss what the Pac-12 meant to them, and he made sure to point that out after the fireworks went off in Las Vegas.

“The competition,” answered Lanning, regarding what he’ll miss about the Pac-12. “This is a great year for this conference. I think you saw a lot of really good football in this conference this year. That’s the piece you’ll miss.”

Alas, the competition was immense throughout the 2023 season, which ended up being a perfect representation for the conference. Washington was the lone foe Oregon was unable to vanquish, and it’s going to keep them from chasing a national title in a couple of weeks.

Moving forward, Lanning recognizes that standard will be a lofty one for the Ducks, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Yeah, we want the standard to be that expectation,” Dan Lanning said. “We have a high expectation for ourselves. There’s nobody outside of this room that wants us to do better than those guys in that locker room, these coaches. They know what we had this year. We have a special group this year.”

Moving into the Big Ten, Lanning made sure to point out it’s only Year 2 of his tenure, and the Ducks are moving in the right direction.

“But it’s a building block, right? We’re in year two. This is an opportunity to build on to this and set the expectation for what it should look like in the future,” Lanning said. “And we’ve got an opportunity to go play in a really good bowl game, right, and cap this thing off the right way.”

Of course, Oregon still has another game to cap off the season, the Fiesta Bowl where the Ducks will take on Liberty. Oregon opened as a 14-point favorite for that game. Dan Lanning will have them ready.

On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this article.