Dan Lanning provides injury updates on several key Oregon players following win over USC

Throughout the 2023 season, Oregon has managed to keep the majority of its two-deep players healthy.

During Saturday’s 36-27 win over USC, though, several of the Ducks’ key offensive and defensive players dealt with injuries that hindered them throughout the evening.

Starting center Jackson Powers-Johnson went down with an apparent injury late in the first half. He went to the sideline medical tent and went straight to the locker room after that. However, he returned at the start of the second half and played the remainder of the game for the Ducks.

During the lone drive that Powers-Johnson was sidelined, true freshman Iapani Laloulu slotted in at center.

During the second half, star running back Bucky Irving suffered an apparent left ankle injury. He also spent time in the medical tent and emerged soon after with his ankle heavily taped. Irving featured heavily for Oregon throughout the remainder of the game. He finished the evening with 118 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries and also caught five passes for 43 yards.

During his postgame press conference, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning was asked for his thoughts on Irving and Powers-Johnson’s performances on Saturday.

“They’re tough guys,” Lanning said. “This is the time of year when people are dinged up. We have to go attack the training room and get healthy and put ourselves in a position where we can finish this thing the way we want to.”

Oregon also spent a large portion of the second half without its two starting cornerbacks — Khyree Jackson and Jahlil Florence. It’s unclear if, or when, either player picked up an injury. Jackson went to the medical tent midway through the third quarter and was spotted on the sideline without shoulder pads later in the game.

Florence was in pads throughout the second half.

“I’ll have to get with our medical staff,” Lanning said when asked about the status of Jackson and Florence. “I haven’t been able to get with them quite yet.”

With its two starters sidelined, Oregon leaned on Trikweze Bridges, Dontae Manning, and Nikko Reed against the Trojans. True freshman Rodrick Pleasant also got on the field during the fourth quarter and helped produce a stop during USC’s failed two-point conversion attempt with 3:44 left in the fourth quarter.

“I thought we were good at times and bad at times,” Lanning said of Oregon’s cornerback play during the second half. “I think we probably have to pitch to them a little bit more and give some relief calls, but it’s hard when you play a quarterback that can put the ball in tight windows. If you decide you want to play zone, they have a lot of great answers for zone. If you play man match, when you have to go one-on-one and you have to break up a tackle, and we had guys there in position to finish and we just didn’t always finish. I thought we had some tight coverage at times that we got flagged on that I didn’t necessarily see as a flag.

“Overall, it’s probably better for me to go back and watch the film to see how we executed. I know this: we have a lot of guys who want to. We have to figure out what technique we need to improve on.”

On Oregon’s lone punt of the day, true freshman Luke Dunne was called on, rather than starter Ross James. Saturday marked Dunne’s third appearance of the season and first since Oregon’s Week 2 win at Texas Tech.

Lanning said James is healthy and was available to play, but the Ducks opted to lean on Dunne due to his specific skill set.

“We felt like Luke is a good hangtime punter,” Lanning said. “And this was a game where hangtime mattered. You know, we talked about, we kind of had a plan based on where we’re at location-wise on the field, hash, what kind of kicks we wanted to use, what kind of formation we’re going to use. So, it’s strategic you know, we have some games still available for Luke based on red shirt. Ross has done a phenomenal job, but you know, Luke certainly deserved the opportunity because of what we’ve done in practice.”