Oregon
Oregon’s takedown of Ohio State proves Dan Lanning can roster-build with the best
Dan Lanning was so fired up you couldn’t tell whether he was looking for somebody to hug or tackle after No. 3 Oregon beat No. 2 Ohio State 32-31 on Saturday night.
As Oregon fans rushed the field to celebrate maybe the biggest Ducks win that 57-year-old Autzen Stadium has ever hosted, their third-year head coach looked as if he would have been comfortable pinballing with the partiers instead of getting a police escort through the sea of humanity.
By the time he got to his postgame news conference, Lanning was still running hot.
“Anybody got a heart-rate monitor?” the 38-year-old said.
The Big Ten’s game of the year, between the league’s most talent-laden perennial power and its flashiest newcomer, delivered in every way. The lead changed hands seven times as the Buckeyes and Ducks traded scores over the final 40 minutes.
“We all knew what we were getting into, you know, a dog fight, two heavyweights going at it,” said Ducks quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who passed for 321 yards and ran for a 27-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
Oregon (6-0) took down Ohio State in the most straightforward and uncomplicated way possible: with a loaded roster that could go toe-to-toe with the most talented team in its new conference, a testament to modern team building.
Playing without their best defensive player (edge rusher Jordan Burch, the team’s sacks leader through five games), the Ducks simply slid former blue-chip recruit Matayo Uiagalelei into Burch’s role.
“You got me tonight?” Uiagalelei said Burch asked him before the game.
“I got you,” Uiagalelei said he told the senior transfer from South Carolina. Did he ever. Uiagalelei delivered a fourth-quarter sack, a tackle for loss on a third down that stopped an Ohio State drive in the second quarter and two more quarterback pressures.
Then there was Texas A&M transfer Evan Stewart, the former five-star prospect who came into the game as the Ducks’ fourth-leading receiver. Stewart came to Eugene knowing he would be a complement to Tez Johnson, Oregon’s top target, who had seven catches for 75 yards and a touchdown against the Buckeyes.
“As I said, before this season, I was really just trying to play my role,” Stewart said. “Because, you know, A&M, we never really just got to win as much. So I was really just going into the season, like, we got wide receiver one and I respect him. I didn’t want to come in and step on those types of toes, but I did want to come in and contribute.”
Stewart was Oregon’s best offensive player against the Buckeyes, grabbing seven passes for 149 yards and a touchdown. His performance was made even more critical when Ducks receiver Traeshon Holden was ejected from the game in the second quarter after he spit at Ohio State cornerback Davison Igbinosun.
Stewart and Johnson took turns toasting Ohio State’s best cornerback, Denzel Burke, one of several Buckeyes defenders who passed up a chance to be a high-round NFL Draft pick last April to return for another run at Michigan, a Big Ten championship and a national title. The Buckeyes came in allowing less than a touchdown per game and just one completion of at least 30 yards.
“(The coaches) told us this week that (the Buckeyes) haven’t really seen anybody like us,” Stewart said. “And you know, when you look at the film from their past games, like, that’s the truth. So we just went into this game knowing we are who we are, and they ain’t seen us yet, so we want to give them a show.”
When Oregon pegged Lanning as its coach to replace Mario Cristobal after the 2021 season, it was looking for someone who understood what a championship roster looked like. Handing a program like Oregon over to a 30-something, first-time head coach was a move that even Ducks fans wondered about. But Lanning had spent time at Alabama as a graduate assistant under Nick Saban and three years as an assistant under Kirby Smart at Georgia.
When Oregon was pummeled 49-3 by Georgia to start the 2022 season in Lanning’s first game in charge, there was no secret what the problem was.
“They’ll bounce back from this, and he knows we have better players. He’ll never say that, but he knows we’ve got better players,” Smart said back then.
Picking up where Cristobal left off, Lanning went to work building a better roster, but with some new tools: the transfer portal and name, image and likeness money.
Based on geography alone, Oregon is going to have a hard time keeping up with SEC powerhouses and Ohio State when it comes to high school recruiting. But Lanning’s connections and relentless approach have paired with Oregon’s well-run collective Division Street to allow his program to stack talent with the best of them.
“I can’t say enough great things about that team that we just played, that’s an elite football team that we just played. They’re really, really talented. They don’t have weaknesses, but our guys did just enough tonight to edge it out,” Lanning said.
As the questions wound down on a 15-minute news conference, Lanning couldn’t hide his relief: “That’s good because I have to go recruit here.”
The Oregon sideline was loaded with prospects on visits Saturday night, so there was no doubt Lanning’s work was far from over. Those visitors watched one of the best games of the year in one of the best atmospheres in college football. A record 60,129 packed Autzen to see Oregon beat the team that has set the standard in the Big Ten for more than two decades.
The Ducks looked every bit like a worthy new rival. And this looked like a matchup we’ll see again in December in Indianapolis with a conference championship on the line.
As Lanning wrapped up, he had a message for anybody who was listening.
“If you see any good players,” he said, “tell ’em to come here.”
(Photo: Ali Gradischer / Getty Images)
Oregon wide receiver Traeshon Holden was ejected in the second quarter of the No. 3 Ducks’ game vs. No. 2 Ohio State for spitting at Ohio State’s Davison Igbinosun.
After the two were engaged near the goal line, Holden clearly spit at Igbinosun in front of an official. It was an obvious flag and automatic ejection by rule as Igbinosun wiped slobber from the visor on his facemask.
Following the penalty, Holden was distraught as he walked up the tunnel to the locker room. He threw his helmet and NBC’s cameras caught him on his knees in frustration at himself for the penalty.
Holden entered the game as one of Oregon’s top receivers. He was second on the team with 19 catches for 274 yards in the Ducks’ first five games of the season and had a 32-yard catch before his ejection on Saturday.
The former Alabama receiver is in his second season with the Ducks and had 37 catches for 452 yards and six scores a season ago. Holden’s penalty came in the midst of a wild first half that had already included a clear Oregon interception that was called a catch for Ohio State, a hilariously failed extra point for Oregon and a Ducks kickoff that bounced off an Ohio State blocker and was recovered by Oregon.
There’s a gigantic, first-time conference showdown inside the Big Ten between Ohio State and Oregon taking place in Week 7, so ESPN had to bring College GameDay to Eugene on Saturday afternoon.
Both teams are undefeated, so the showdown will have giant College Football Playoff implications. Outside of Autzen Stadium, other clashes like the Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma, as well as Penn State traveling to the West Coast to face USC will adorn screens throughout America.
Before all the action takes place, the College GameDay crew made their selections for Week 7’s slate. Joining the desk as the Celebrity Guest Picker was none other than Kaitlin Olson of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fame, who was born in Portland in 1975, and is an Oregon graduate from 1997. Check out all of their picks below.
ESPN College GameDay Picks for Week 7:
Ohio State at Oregon: Herbstreit and Saban are on the Buckeyes, while Howard, McAfee and Olson are on the Ducks to get the job done in Autzen Stadium on Saturday evening.
Red River Rivalry — Texas vs. Oklahoma: Kirk Herbstreit is calling the game so he’s not picking, but the rest of the crew had to make their selections known. Everyone is on the Longhorns though.
Kansas State at Colorado: Coach Prime made an appearance on College GameDay, would that help the Buffaloes’ case? The Wildcats are favored, but the whole crew is on Colorado.
Ole Miss at LSU: Olson dropped a Joey Freshwater reference while picking the Rebels, and Saban and McAfee agree, but Howard and Herbstreit are on the Tigers.
Penn State at USC: Nobody is a believer in the Trojans on the College GameDay set.
Florida at Tennessee: The whole crew is on the Volunteers on Saturday.
California at Pittsburgh: Olson and Herbstreit believe in the Golden Bears over the Panthers.
Arizona at BYU: Olson is the lone dissenter, riding with the Wildcats in Week 7.
Iowa State at West Virginia: Howard, Saban and Herbstreit are on the Cyclones, while Olson and McAfee are on the Mountaineers.
Washington at Iowa: Another interesting Big Ten clash for the Huskies. They weren’t very popular in Eugene, or on the desk, as everyone is on the Hawkeyes.
Full CGD analyst picks for Week 7:
Desmond Howard: Texas, Colorado, LSU, Penn State, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, BYU, Iowa State, Iowa
Nick Saban: Texas, Colorado, Ole Miss, Penn State, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, BYU, Iowa State, Iowa
Celebrity Guest Picker – Kaitlin Olson: Texas, Colorado, Ole Miss, Penn State, Tennessee, California, Arizona, West Virginia, Iowa
Pat McAfee: Texas, Colorado, Ole Miss, Penn State, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, BYU, West Virginia, Iowa
Kirk Herbstreit: Ohio State, No pick for Texas/Oklahoma, Colorado, LSU, Penn State, Tennessee, California, BYU, Iowa State, Iowa
Former legendary Alabama head coach Nick Saban knows a thing or two about winning games, and the No. 3 Oregon Ducks might want to listen to his latest advice ahead of Saturday’s matchup against the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes at Autzen Stadium.
During an appearance Friday on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show,” Saban shared that the key for Oregon to beat the Buckeyes is to emphasize running the ball.
“To beat Ohio State you’ve gotta be able to run the ball,” Saban told McAfee. “The last six games they’ve lost, the other team ran for more than they did, cause they’re gonna try to run the ball. So if you can control the line of scrimmage you got a chance. Now can Oregon do that? Can they match up up front? That’s gonna be the big question.”
McAfee then brought up that some of the new Big Ten teams from the west coast have struggled to match the physicality that the conference tends to present. However, Saban thinks that Oregon is one of the teams that’s equipped to handle this ground-and-pound style.
“They’re one of them,” Saban said of the Ducks. ” … To me, that’s the big question because the big question for Oregon going into the season was is the offensive line going to be able to overcome the issues. Now, they have overcome some of the issues from the first couple of games, (not) giving up sacks, being able to run the ball more effectively. But to be able to do it against Ohio State, now that’s another question that needs to be answered. We’ll soon find out.”
Saban then pointed to the lack of “big people” on the west coast compared to the midwest and southeast. He thinks that this can sometimes give the Big Ten and advantage from a physicality standpoint.
“But I think the big thing about the west coast — and I’ve always felt this way — you got to import big people,” Saban said. “There’s not enough big people on the west coast, talking about interior linemen, unless they come from Hawaii or Samoa or someplace because they just don’t have the kind of big people that we have in the midwest and the southeast.”
If the Ducks want to come away with a massive win at home. they might have to rely on running back Jordan James, who’s tallied 88 carries for 552 yards and six touchdowns so far this season. Oregon coach Dan Lanning and the Ducks hope to upset Ryan Day’s Buckeyes on Saturday, Oct. 12 at 4:30 p.m. PT.
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