Dan Lanning speaks to importance of rivalry with Utah

Dan Lanning recognizes how important Oregon‘s rivalry with the Utah Utes is for the Ducks, and he can’t wait to play them on Saturday.

Ahead of the showdown, Lanning touched on what the clash means to his program, and how excited the players and fans are for what’s to be an awesome game.

“Well this is certainly our biggest game, because it’s the next game,” Lanning started. “This is a team that I have a lot of respect for. How they’ve operated, what they do. Utah, always be our footprint, from a recruiting standpoint, to be able to go there and get the best and the brightest in our program. But it’s going to be a fun game.

“This is one that our players will get excited about. Our fans will be excited about. When we go down there and do well against these guys.”

Both squads are feeling themselves at the moment, and it should be a ferocious battle between two soon-to-be former Pac-12 rivals.

Meanwhile, Lanning believes it’ll be a wonderful environment in Utah when the Utes and Ducks square off, as he shared that because of the job both teams have done this season, he’s preparing for a loud environment in Salt Lake City.

“I think it’ll be a great environment,” Lanning added. “You know, I know that they get loud there. I know that they love their team. So, it should be a lot of fun for us. I think that speaks you know, obviously, to the job that Utah has done this year and the job that we’ve done this year to put ourselves in that position to have GameDay there.”

Continuing, this will actually be Lanning’s first time coaching on the road against Utah since getting to Oregon. However, the Ducks did play the Utes last season in Eugene, winning a close game 20-17. It’s expected to be a great game, with ESPN’s College GameDay in town for the key Pac-12 game.

Up until this point, Utah has had a phenomenal season, despite dealing with several major injuries. That ability to handle injuries is something that Dan Lanning is incredibly impressed with.

“The amount of injuries that they’ve dealt with, and for him to be able to utilize defensive personnel on offense and shuffle positions and utilize offensive linemen at tight end and I think it’s just really impressive,” Lanning stated. “You know, everyone’s always known that he’s a great coach, but the way that he’s been able and his staff has been able to utilize the people they have, you know, I know the beginning the year he spoke about the depth of his team, it’s starting to really show up.

“He has good depth, but they’re utilizing people in different ways than they anticipated when the year started and he’s done a great job coaching that group.”

It’s going to be a battle between Oregon and Utah on Saturday, and we can’t wait to see who comes out on top.

On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this article.