Dan Lanning looks ahead to Pac-12 championship

The setup is simple this week for Oregon.

Everything is on the table for the No. 5-ranked Ducks (11-1) as they get their desired rematch up with No. 3 Washington (12-0) in the Pac-12 championship game in Las Vegas on Friday.

A win should put Dan Lanning's program in the College Football Playoff -- if the Ducks are able to turn the tables on a Huskies team that won the regular-season meeting, 36-33, back in October.

That game was a thriller that concluded with Oregon missing a game-tying field goal, as kicker Camden Lewis was put in a tough spot after a few controversial decisions by Lanning.

On Monday, Lanning spoke about how he learned from that mid-October matchup and the ways in which Oregon can claim that spot in the final year of the four-team playoff format.

Here were the top takeaways from Lanning’s press conference ...

The good teams learn from their mistakes. The best ones apply what they’ve garnered.

It’s hard to beat any team twice, especially the ones that grow from those past losses, but not many college football teams have a chance to prove that latter part.

Oregon does, on Friday, when it faces Washington in the Pac-12 championship.

“You pull something from every experience you’ve had in your life,” Lanning said. “We’re certainly going to look at the first game as a way to look at where we could have improved.”

The coach, himself, mentioned his decision-making in crucial scenarios — such as keeping the offense on the field on fourth-and-mediums — but wouldn’t go into specifics on how he and his team would be adapting for this rematch, of course.

Along with those decisions, Lanning felt his team was outmatched in aspects of the game.

“We didn’t walk away feeling like we dominated in each phase,” he said. “There were pieces we won and pieces we lost.”

Lately, albeit in matchups against teams lesser than Washington, Oregon has dominated in each and every phase, pretty soundly. The goal now is to carry that over to the biggest game of them all -- so far.

Not only is it important to grow from a previous matchup, but the teams that win in the postseason build consistent momentum throughout the regular season.

While the Huskies may hold a victory over the Ducks and a better record by that one game, Oregon is playing its best football while Washington has had some narrow victories of late.

Washington has flirted with losses basically every week since beating Oregon, while the Ducks have manhandled highly-ranked teams such as Utah and Oregon State, and vs. USC nullified defending Heisman trophy winner Caleb Williams’ impact.

If there’s a time to play one's best football, it's now, and, despite a loss, that was always Lanning’s plan for the Ducks.

“Early on in the season, we talked about how we want to play our best ball at the end of the season,” he said. “I think you’ll look at our team and you’ll see a lot of guys that have consistently improved and gotten better, a scheme that’s adapted and built off a lot of things that we’ve done in previous weeks.”

There’s been a consistent improvement in the pass rush, the overall connectivity on defense, for that matter; a settling of roles in the passing game with Tez Johnson (the speedster_ and Troy Franklin (the jump ball winner and chain mover) finding their roles, and a quarterback, in Bo Nix, that rivals any in the nation, with a chance to claim the Heisman.

“He’s gotten better and better throughout this season,” Lanning said. “He’s an elite player and we’re still playing football. I think that speaks to the caliber of player Bo is.”

The second part of his quote answered a question regarding what separates Nix from other Heisman candidates. A win over another fierce competitor, in Michael Penix Jr. may solidify that.

Go back to Lanning’s quote about not winning in each phase the last time these two teams met, for a second. At times, Penix Jr. had way too clean of a pocket, and other moments, there were complete breakdowns in the secondary.

Neither can happen to contain this caliber of a gunslinger.

“It’s important that rush and coverage work together,” Lanning said. “You want to have a great rush, you want to be able to get to the quarterback, but you also have to match their patterns.”

That being said, statistically, this is not the same Penix Jr. that the Ducks faced last year. To the eye, he’s seemed off and it’s shown in his numbers.

He’s completed just 58.7 % of his passes and thrown five interceptions in the six games since facing the Ducks. Lanning does not want to underestimate the sixth-year senior as the Ducks were able to hold him down for most of the second half when they first met, until his outburst on the last drive put the Huskies in an advantageous position.

He has a point, too, as the Huskies still haven’t lost, which is a testament to Penix’s moxy.

This is always vital in a high-powered conference like the Pac-12, but even more crucial against Penix Jr. and the Huskies weapons.

Most notably, wide receiver Rome Odunze, who’s been the Huskies' best player for all intents and purposes. This season he has 73 catches for 1326 yards and 13 touchdowns and, with Jalen McMillan missing much of the season due to injury, has been their clear favored source of offense in any game-changing scenario.

Unfortunately for Oregon, it may be down a few personnel to match up against Odunze, as well as Ja’Lynn Polk and McMillan.

Jahlil Florence, Bryan Addison and Rodrick Pleasant missed the Oregon State game and Khyree Jackson and Tysheem Johnson have missed time as well. Lanning said some may return but didn’t specify who.

With all this unknown, veteran Dontae Manning stepped up against Oregon State with one pass break up and an interception on a pass to the end zone.

“We have a lot of corners in that room that have done a good job of competing,” Lanning said. “It was exciting to see for Dontae, some of those 50/50 balls, and going up to get a pick in the end zone. … He is starting to make some of the plays we expect him to make.”