Rece Davis: Dan Lanning shows 'every quality' of elite college football coach

Just two weeks after a highly anticipated Pac-12 matchup with College GameDay in attendance, Dan Lanning and Oregon are gearing up for another one. The Ducks are in Salt Lake City to take on Utah in Week 9, which is yet another big game for Lanning in his second year as a head coach.

As for whether it’s a “must-win” for him, though, ESPN’s Rece Davis pumped the brakes.

“It’s pretty early in his career to start giving him the must-wins,” Davis told reporters on Friday.

Lanning’s aggressive coaching style came under fire with the loss to Washington in Week 7. In that game, Oregon failed to convert any of its three fourth down attempts — including one which led to the go-ahead Huskies touchdown to make it 36-33. The Ducks then missed the potential game-tying field goal.

Davis said the conversation about that game changes significantly if that kick goes in. Plenty of things could’ve happened, including a possible Oregon victory in overtime. He pulled from a Bill Raftery quote to illustrate his point and said Lanning is going to be just fine as he goes through his coaching journey.

“I think he’s shown every quality that you want in a head coach and a guy who’s able to lead a major program and lead them to huge heights,” Davis said. “It’s like the old Bill Raftery thing, right? A guy takes a shot, your down one. And as the ball arcs toward the basket — good coach, bad coach, good coach, bad coach, good coach, bad coach, good coach. Oh, bad coach. Okay. Field goal doesn’t go in, fourth downs aren’t converted. Field goal goes in, maybe we go to overtime, maybe they win. ‘Dan Lanning, holy cow, he’s the best coach in America.’ Field goal doesn’t go in, they lose. ‘Oh, why didn’t you go for it on fourth down?’

“I think he’s got every characteristic that you want for an elite coach. Does he need to win tomorrow? Well, yeah, because they want to win championships. But in terms of it being some referendum on whether he’s going to ‘win the big one,’ I don’t think there’s any doubt that they’re going to win a lot of big ones as long as he’s the coach.”

Lanning and Oregon have the opportunity to make a major statement on Saturday against Utah. The Utes are coming off a victory over USC a week ago, and the Ducks will try to stop that momentum.