Everything Dan Lanning said following No. 8 Oregon's loss at No. 7 Washington

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning met with reporters following the Ducks’ nail-biting loss to Washington in Seattle.

Lanning spoke for approximately 10 minutes and discussed his pivotal fourth-down decisions, the play of Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr., and what the loss means for Oregon moving forward.

Here is a full transcript of Lanning’s postgame presser.

Opening statement

Lanning: “Tough battle there. Some guys hurting in that locker room. They really wanted that one. And, you know at the end of the day, they made a couple more plays than than we made. Some decisions we probably could have made differently throughout that game. I thought our guys battled to the end. I thought they showed some resiliency being down 11 and then coming back and pulling ahead. But, you know, tough finish. It’s a really good team, credit to them. They created some explosive plays we felt we were gonna be able to take away. Their quarterback is tough; we were able to get some hits on him. But he still completed passes and they deserve to win with the way they played down the stretch and how they finished.”

Q: Why were those the calls on the two 4th-down calls inside the 10-yard line?

Lanning: “We felt that was an opportunity for us to get a touchdown and a touchdown changes the game. And obviously, we’re probably not talking about it if we get a touchdown. That being said, the one before halftime is one where you really can go back and say, ‘Let’s take that field goal.’ And it’s something I’m going to assess, go evaluate for me. We checked to see if we liked the look. We liked the look before we ran the play. We had a timeout if we didn’t like the look. We liked the look, and we just didn’t execute.”

Q: What were your thoughts on Trikweze Bridges performance after he replaced Jahlil Florence?

Lanning: “We talked about strength in numbers a lot, and I thought there were several guys that stepped up. We got banged up a little bit there throughout the game our guys had to come in with limited reps and go out there and perform. Trikweze was one of them that fought and battled till the very end.”

Q: With 2:11 to go, why for it instead of punting?

Lanning: “Yeah, we felt like our defense was playing well and then felt like we had an offensive play that was going to be successful. They covered it well. But at that point, they’ve proven to be an explosive offense regardless of where they get the ball. Whether it’s going (the length of the field) — obviously they went there twice in 33 seconds, they were able to score. We gave ourselves the ball back with plenty of time to go score again. We know that that honey hole for us is really a minute, 40 seconds to a minute 20 seconds. We got it back with an opportunity to go score kind of in that window. But that being said, you know, it didn’t work. So, obviously, it will be second-guessed.”

Q: What were your thoughts on Bo Nix’s performance?

Lanning: “Bo is just a warrior. The guy is a warrior. I mean, he battles every single time we step on the field. I thought he battled today. I thought he made some elite plays. At times he did some things with his legs that he hasn’t had to do this season. He did really well. Really proud of his performance. I know there are a couple plays that he wants to have back. But I’ll go to war with that guy any day.”

Q: What led to the defensive improvements in the second half?

Lanning: “We just talked through some adjustments that we weren’t executing properly. We made a couple of different calls. Ultimately, they were connecting on some quick passing game. They were able to take advantage of us in some of the run game. We changed some of our fits there at halftime and we’re able to handle them a little bit better with those adjustments and just didn’t finish it off there at the end.”

Q: What is it about you as a coach that makes you want to go for the jugular on fourth down plays? And when it doesn’t work, does that make you rethink your overall philosophy?

Lanning: “I think I’ll always go back and evaluate myself and say, ‘Okay, what can I do different?’ That being said, from a probability standpoint, how we felt about looks that we were getting, we felt like we had a chance to have success and both situations — really all of the situations today where we went for it on fourth. We had an opportunity to call timeout if we didn’t like what we saw. There was some confusion on the last play that was handed off. We actually had a check that didn’t get checked or executed properly. So didn’t get that mastered. But I’ll certainly go back and evaluate myself. It’s about adapting. The game is about adapting and figuring out where you can be better. You take one of those field goals early on and we are looking at probably a little bit different situation.”

Q: What is your conversation with Camden like? How do you help him keep his head up?

Lanning: “Camden’s a winner. I trust Camden, I love Camden. That game never should have come down to that. It shouldn’t have come down to that. And, you know, ultimately, that happens. It’s a high-pressure situation. It’s tough on a kicker, but he shouldn’t wear the blame on this. He certainly has a job to do when he steps on the field. We’ve all seen Cam make that kick a million times, right? He didn’t make it today. But again, a good team, and if we do the things that we can do, we might get an opportunity to face those guys again.”

Q: After an emotional game like that, what is the psyche of the team?

Lanning: “Our guys are hungry to get out there and get to go perform again. And we’re going to be playing a lot of top-25 opponents the rest of the season. It’s a great thing about this schedule that we have. We got tested. I think we’re gonna learn a lot of things about our team throughout this week. I think we have phenomenal leadership on this team. We have guys that aren’t going to quit and they’re gonna come to work and we’re gonna go attack it.”

Q: With the margins in the Pac-12 so thin, how does it feel that your destiny is no longer in your hands?

Lanning: “Well, I think if we take care of business on the rest of our wins, our destiny, we absolutely control our destiny. If we win out, then we’re going to put ourselves in a situation to build play for exactly what we think we should play for.”

Q: How would you describe Penix’s play tonight? And what was it like to watch him and Bo Nix battle?

Lanning: “Yeah, he’s a great player. I mean, he showed it today. He took some big hits and was still able to get up and perform. He utilizes his weapons well. He does a really good job and it was fun seeing both of those guys battle today. It was an epic game from that standpoint.”

Q: What does it take to get over the hump and win those games that come down to the wire?

Lanning: “We’ve got to win in the fourth quarter. I think we did some things well there at the end, but you’re talking about being a 3rd-and-1 with an opportunity to get a yard and be in a potential victory situation. We’ve gotta find a way to get that tough yard. Making sure we have the right call dialed up to be able to execute that. But we’re close. We’re right there. And that’s something that is 100% my responsibility, we gotta get that accomplished. But we have the guys in that room to accomplish that.”

Q: What are your thoughts on Jordan James’ performance?

Lanning: “I thought in general the run game was really good today. We’re able to move bodies. (James) ran really tough. Bucky ran really tough. Those guys fight for every inch and every yard. Did a really good job of that today.”

Q: What did you guys do to stretch the field vertically in the second half?

Lanning: “Yeah, we wanted to be able to get the ball and stretch the ball down the field a little bit. They played a little bit tighter to the box there when we became a little bit more of a run-heavy team too. And that’s where you have to be able to stretch them vertically, and we were able to connect on some of those.”

Q: Without looking at the film, what is the most important thing you want to get better at this week?

Lanning: “Yeah, it’s hard to answer that question without looking at the film. Again, I think execution is probably something that stands out. We’re gonna look back and see the small mistakes that hurt us. We’ve got to be able to go execute and then that’s probably the number one.”

Q: How hungry is your team to make it to Vegas and get another shot at Washington?

Lanning: “Well, the next game is the most important game, right? You don’t put yourself in a position to do that. These guys are hungry, right? They’re hungry to go have success. There’s no doubt about that. But it starts with the next game. It starts there. You can’t start worrying about that now.”

Q: Because you analyze this stuff so deeply, if you punt and it’s even a touchback, what is the marginal difference in the probability of success?

Lanning: “There’s a difference, right? And we played to the differences. Again, I think we can all look back now and say, ‘Hey, you should have punted. If you get the fourth down, the game’s over. ‘We capitalize and finish the game. So they’re an explosive offense. We don’t necessarily know if there’s a big difference in them from 75 compared to 50 yards with the ability they have to be able to put the ball down the field or stretch the field. We felt like it was more advantageous to be able to close the game out. Again, going back, you don’t want to take the negative play on third down. You want to be able to push it vertical and get the first down on 3rd-and-1.”

Q: Are you pleased with the play calls on those fourth-down attempts? Is it just execution?

Lanning: ” I have to go back and watch everything. But I thought both of our coordinators prepared our guys to execute well. I think that this game is 100% on me. I don’t think you guys have to look anywhere else besides me. I think every one of us can look at the decisions that were made today, and again, if you can make some of those decisions differently; if you kicked the field goal before half. If you kicked the field goal somewhere else then it could have been a different result. You never know how the rest of the game is gonna play out, so you make those decisions based on the information you have.”

Q: You said you wanted to keep the timeout before the half is that why you didn’t run the ball?

Lanning: “Yeah, that’s the decision we talked about as a staff. That’s one where you’d love to be able to run it in. And I think if we went back and did it all over again, with the way we’ve been running the ball, you’d love to take an opportunity to run the ball there.”

Q: How do you think the defense played overall, especially against Penix?

Lanning: “I think they’re an explosive team that we just played. They’re gonna have some success. I thought they were able to toughen up in the second half and execute the way we were asking them to execute and be able to execute the calls. I mean, you’re gonna go back and look at the film and see some miscommunication that hurt us in the first half. But overall, I thought those guys battled, and they fought tough. (Penix) doesn’t make it easy for you to have opportunities to get hands on him, and he does a good job throwing guys open and finding the open receiver. He did a really good job of that today.”

Q: How do you feel that your secondary matched up against Wahsington’s receivers, and is there any word on Jahlil Florence?

Lanning: “I don’t know yet on Jahlil. Overall I thought there were a lot of guys that rolled in the secondary for us today and I thought our guys battled. There are some of those battles we want to have back. (Washington) made some phenomenal contested catches, where, ‘Hey, that’s good coverage but their guy made the play.’ And then there are some times when we’re able to break it up. You hope at the end of the day, we did feel like you have to have bodies on bodies on these guys to be able to break some of those up and they won more of those battles today.”

Q: What did you make of Troy Franklin’s performance?

Lanning: “Yeah, from what I saw from Troy, I thought he battled from the beginning game all the way to the very end, Worked as everliving tail off to give us a chance to have success.”