Dan Lanning responds to national criticism following Oregon's blowout win over Colorado

Oregon’s Week 4 beatdown of the Colorado Buffaloes generated plenty of national headlines — both because of the Ducks’ dominant on-field performance and because of what their head coach said before and during the game.

In the hours leading up to kickoff, a video emerged of Dan Lanning’s impassioned pregame speech during which he told his team “they’re fighting for clicks, we’re fighting for wins.”

Later that afternoon, after the Ducks bulldozed their way to a 35-0 halftime lead, Lanning took another jab at the Buffs during his sideline interview with ESPN’s Katie George.

Dan Lanning isn’t letting up 😳

“We’re not done yet… I hope those people who have been watching every week are watching this week.” pic.twitter.com/E1afutMUGJ

— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) September 23, 2023

Oregon ultimately won 45-6 to improve to 4-0 on the season. In the days that have followed, several national pundits and media personalities have directed criticism at Lanning for the comments he made on Saturday, as well as his aggressive play-calling.

During his Monday press conference, the Ducks’ second-year head coach was asked for his thoughts on the criticism; particularly comments made by Fox Sports’ Skip Bayless, who described Lanning’s pregame comments as “venomous vengeance” while defending Buffs’ head coach Deion Sanders.

“I don’t know Skip at all. I’ve never had a conversation with him. I’ve watched him enough to know how often he gets it wrong,” Lanning said on Monday. “We’re playing to win the game. You saw a 15-second clip from a window view outside the house of what happens in the locker room. I know our locker room. I’m in the house 100% of the time. I know how our players felt going into that game and I know what it takes to motivate our players. That’s my job; to motivate our players. (Skip Bayless) has a job. I have a job too, to get out there and perform on the field. Inside that house, they felt a certain way. They felt a certain way about a group stomping on the O. They felt a certain way about guys talking to them in the pregame. I’m proud of those guys because what they decided to do is talk with their pads. They didn’t want to do anything extra afterwards; they wanted to talk with their pads and they did that on Saturday.”

Lanning and Sanders both spoke highly of each other in the days leading up to the game. During his mid-week press conference, Sanders said he “respects the heck out of that man” when asked about Lanning. While speaking with reporters postgame on Saturday, he called the game “a good-old-fashion butt-kicking” and complimented Oregon’s coaching staff for the job they did preparing the Ducks.

On Monday, Lanning went out of his way to praise the job Sanders has done during his first season in Boulder.

“I’m also grateful and can clearly acknowledge that the attention we got this Saturday, in large part, was due to Deion and what he’s doing to college football,” Lanning said. “If anybody can’t see what he’s done for college football and how he’s bringing an excitement to college football, you’re crazy. I said that last week as well. He’s done a lot for the game. He’s building something over there, I think that’s really, really clear. There’s no secret there. It wouldn’t matter if I was playing my 10-year-old son on the other sideline, I’m going to do everything I can to win. If I’m playing Bill Belichick I’m going to do everything I can to win. Did I go for it on fourth down? Yeah, I have every game this year. I’ve gone for it nine times. Did I go for a two-point conversion? Yeah, I’ve done that three out of the four games this year. If we play again tomorrow, I’m going to do the same thing.

“I’m going to do everything I can to win a game and everything I can to motivate my team. That to me is classless, what (Bayless) is saying there. But I’m not really worried about it.”