Dan Lanning Gives Final Updates Ahead of No. 9 Oregon vs. Oregon State

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning met with reporters on Wednesday following the team’s practice ahead of a Saturday matchup against Oregon State. He gave his final updates around his team as the Ducks prepare for a rivalry contest with the Beavers in Corvallis.

Below you’ll find some of Lanning’s top quotes and some analysis.

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Opening statement: “Was kind of fun for us, we got to work out in the elements a bit which is always good. Good prep for us in the future. I’d be remiss if I didn’t recognize today being 911 and all the people that were affected by that. Certainly remember exactly where I was at in that moment. So something to certainly think about. But our guys did a great job today of working and ready to attack this weekend.”

On how Matthew Bedford has been looking after being more involved in practice:

Lanning: “Better and better. Better and better.”

On if he’s confident Bedford will play vs. Oregon State:

Lanning: “Confident he could.”

On if Marcus Harper is a possibility at center with Poncho and Nishad Strother at guard:

Lanning: “It would probably be Poncho there before that.”

On Oregon State wide receiver Trent Walker:

Lanning: “Just, they do a good job of establishing the run and then taking advantage of explosive passes. A great job of taking advantage of that run game is gonna make people play lighter in coverage and winning on those deep balls.”

On where he wants to see Oregon defense improve, what they did well at:

Lanning: “Yeah eliminating explosive plays. I think that’s a big piece of it. I think we need to improve in the red area when it comes to defensive performance. We’re really good on third down. When it was third and longer we were really poor on third and short, so another area for us to improve.”

On what goes into correcting kickoff offsides

Lanning: “Yeah we just worked it today. So really it was more when we were kicking right as opposed to when the approach is a little bit different. So we have to work the getoffs in those moments.”

On impact of Oregon State offensive line, starting right guard (Tyler Voltin) out for the year:

Lanning: “The game will have to tell that story. I think they’re still gonna want to be a team that has success running the ball. They’ve always had guys that can do that, that can block. But we’ll see what lineup they bring out there and I’m sure they’ll still want to do some of the things they’re good at.”

On how crucial waning moments of the first half can be leading into the second half:

Lanning: “It’s been something that’s been a real positive for us in the last few years. So it’s something we want to be really good at. We talk about the middle eight all the time and just being able to score at the end of the half and potentially start with the ball in the second half, start with a good drive is something we want to be good at. But it’s a good area for us to improve right now.”

Torres’ Take

Not a lot from Lanning as we gear up for a matchup against the Beavers on Saturday. Seemed like some optimism around Bedford possibly playing, but hard to get a read one way or another. My guess would be he doesn’t go but I’d be happy to be proven wrong.

With how much the group has struggled I’m very curious how much his return would change things. Obviously getting a veteran player back is always good, but it could still take some time to have that starting 5, plus the one or two rotational pieces gel. The middle eight is a great point of focus for the Ducks as they dominated that portion of games last year, but that hasn’t been the case thus far in the season.