Dan Lanning praises Dillon Gabriel's progress in Oregon offense: 'He's been really accurate'

The Oregon Ducks get an early start to the college football weekend with a matchup against Michigan State on Friday night. The program’s first home game as members of the Big Ten against a team that’s been in the conference since 1953.

The Ducks will look to keep their 4-0 record flawless tonight in Eugene, and to do so they’ll definitely need transfer quarterback Dillon Gabriel to continue playing at a high level. A player that Oregon head coach Dan Lanning discussed Friday on SportsCenter ahead of kickoff.

“I think he’s just really efficient,” Lanning said. “He understands where we want to go with the ball, doesn’t take unnecessary risks, and he’s been able to win with his feet. I was impressed with that this past week. But he’s been really accurate and he’s got some weapons that he can throw to and he’s taken advantage of it.”

When it comes to efficiency, Gabriel had some big shoes to fill at the position following standout quarterback Bo Nix‘s impressive two seasons with the program. With Nix completing 77.4% of his passes for 4,508 yards and 45 touchdown passes last year with just three interceptions.

Early this season Gabriel has found a way to be even more accurate, currently boasting an impressive 81.5% completion percentage with 1,192 yards and nine touchdowns through four games. Throwing his first interception of the season last week after his intended wide receiver slipped running his route, but still serving as the steady force for an Oregon team that stumbled out of the gate.

“The truth is we’ve had some growth moments,” Lanning admitted. “We’ve had to readapt and change a little bit of who we are, but we’ve had really good quarterback play from Dillon and we think we have a team that understands what we’re trying to accomplish every time we step out on the field, and that’s allowed us to have some success.”

Following close wins over Idaho from the FCS and Boise State from the Group of Five, the Ducks picked things up significantly in their last two games. Outscoring opponents 83-27 in their last two matchups where Gabriel has manufactured 656 yards of total offense.

Gabriel and the Ducks will look to keep things going in Autzen Stadium tonight when they kick off against the Spartans at 9:00 p.m. ET in a matchup airing on FOX and streaming on Fubo.