Oregon coach Dan Lanning on Buckeyes: 'They were clicking on all cylinders'

PASADENA, Calif. — Ohio State beat Oregon 41-21 in a blowout win in the Rose Bowl on Wednesday evening, and Ducks coach Dan Lanning met with the media postgame to discuss what went wrong for his team.

Lettermen Row has his full press conference below.

Dan Lanning opening statement

Dan Lanning: But getting to the game, they clicked tonight and we didn’t. And I didn’t get our team prepared. And that’s a great team. When you play a great team like Ohio State, you can’t not be clicking on all cylinders. And they were. They were clicking on all cylinders. We really didn’t have the ability to stop them, and we didn’t have the ability to get something going for us on offense. And we haven’t faced a lot of moments like this all year. It’s an unbelievable team. Coach Day and his staff have done an unbelievable job there.

I don’t want to discredit what our players have been able to accomplish this year. We had a great team. We just ran into a great team tonight and we didn’t play our best. Credit to those guys. I’ll say this about our team: There wasn’t a second we stepped on the field where I felt our guys were disheartened, where they didn’t want to give the effort to go out there and play. I just don’t think we had a good enough plan as coaches tonight, and we have to find ways to prepare ourselves for these moments better as a coaching staff.

But I love that team. I love that team in there. I love what those guys were able to accomplish, and it was tough when you play great teams at the end of the season somebody’s not going to come out on top. Those guys came out on top tonight. Obviously that’s a team I think that has the ability to go win it all.

So proud of our guys. Certainly proud of this season and disappointed tonight. If you’re a competitor, there’s no way you’re not going to be disappointed in the result tonight.

On the long layoff between games…

Dan Lanning: I think that’s an excuse. I thought our guys prepared well going in. Obviously they had a better plan than us. But that’s an excuse.

That’s an opportunity that we had to recharge. I thought our guys did practice well. I’d tell you if that wasn’t the case. I thought they had a great focus. I just don’t think our plan was good enough. I think they had a great plan to attack us. So credit to those guys.

On not being able to adjust to Ohio State…

Dan Lanning: We’ve got to be able to adjust a little bit faster. There were some things we were able to get going at points throughout the game. We didn’t adjust fast enough.

And it’s tough when you play a team that doesn’t have a lot of weaknesses. They’ve got strengths. Their wideouts were creating a lot of success down the field. And then their ability to run the ball makes them a dangerous team. They didn’t make mistakes on special teams. You need some of those things to bounce your way.

And offensively we struggled to get a first down early on and I thought Dillon did an unbelievable job there at the end of the half creating a spark for our team, but a lot of those weren’t natural plays. It wasn’t like the first read was there. It was this guy busting his tail, and guys like Traeshon and the O line fighting like crazy to extend plays and create those moments. We just didn’t have enough of those moments tonight.

On how Ohio State was different than the first time these teams played…

Dan Lanning: I think they were able to find some shot opportunities. Caught us in a couple of coverages that gave them the chance to have success. And you could decide, okay, we’re going to try to pressure, and that’s still going to leave some one-on-ones. But they got us in some situational checks, some stuff that was successful.

And they have great players. They have some guys out there that made plays. And you have to give those guys credit.

On Jeremiah Smith…

Dan Lanning: He’s strong, attacks the ball in the air as well as any receiver I’ve seen. The guy is NFL-ready. He’s that talented and that special. And Will Howard did a great job getting him the ball. And he’s tough and he’s physical. He’s got all the tools. A really talented player.

Dan Lanning asked how Ohio State lost to Michigan…

Dan Lanning: Sometimes it’s not your day. I think that was us today. It wasn’t our day today. It wasn’t their day against Michigan.

But what’s unique about college football right now in this dynamic is that you’ve got to be playing your best ball at the end. I think anybody watching Ohio State recognizes they’re playing really good football.

On getting a tough CFP draw…

Dan Lanning: We had an opportunity. We didn’t take advantage of the opportunity. I’m not going to make excuses for our opportunity. And ultimately you have to be great teams to beat teams at the end of the year we didn’t do that. This is the road we had to travel. And they did it better than us tonight. No complaints for us for having that opportunity.

They just took advantage of it and we didn’t.