EUGENE, Ore. — Oregon head coach Dan Lanning addressed numerous topics during his weekly Monday press conference, coming off an exciting win for the Ducks. He began by expressing gratitude to the fans who traveled to support the team across the country. "Obviously coming off an exciting win," Lanning said. "I want to make sure I take the opportunity to thank our fans that made the trip across the country to that game. There were a ton of fans in the stands, which made it really special. Seeing so much green was amazing." Lanning emphasized how important fan support was, making the environment special for the team on the road.

Lanning also took a moment to recognize accomplishments from other parts of the athletic department, saying, "Be remiss if I didn't acknowledge our first Big Ten championship team in cross country, awesome accomplishment by them. And then already off to a good start tonight with women's basketball. I know men's basketball is about to kick off, so excited for them. And I know we've got a big volleyball match this week against Nebraska. So a lot of exciting things going on in the department here at Oregon and certainly thrilled to be a part of it."

Addressing injuries, Lanning provided updates on wide receiver Tez Johnson and Marcus Harper, stressing the importance of prioritizing player safety. "I'm going to tell you the same thing I always tell you. As soon as they're ready to go, we'll have them out there. We're going to put player safety first. Tez will be down certainly right now in the near future, but I do anticipate us getting Tez back here soon. Same with Marcus. I think neither one of those injuries are as bad as maybe they appeared on the field. I think we'll have those guys back, but I don't know when that looks like right now, but we'll do what we always do, take care of the players and what's in the best interest of them, and both those guys fighting to get back as soon as we can have them." Lanning emphasized that both players are working hard to return, but the timeline remains uncertain.

The Ducks scored a late-game touchdown with just 25 seconds left, and Lanning was asked about the decision to go for it. He explained the mentality behind the move: "Yeah, I mean, ultimately they had a timeout. If they utilize the timeout, then there's the opportunity for them to stop it. And you're trying to assess are they going to be in a position to use one or not. And obviously looking back at it, it's easy to say, okay, they probably weren't going to utilize one. They're going to let the clock tick out. But, you know, at some point that could happen to us as well. It would never be a shame for us going to score a touchdown. And I know I've got a ton of respect for Coach Moore and the job that he's done. And he's been amazing every time I've got to interact with him. And, you know, you could feel bad, but as a competitor, you want to go out there and do the best you can to score. And I'm sure there certainly were some Oregon fans were excited that we did there too."

With Tez Johnson out, questions arose about the depth at wide receiver. Lanning expressed confidence in the players stepping into bigger roles. "Yeah, I'm confident we have a plan, right? And I'm confident that we've shown there's a lot of guys that can play winning football for us right now. You know, who that'll be come Saturday, I mean, I'll leave that for us to figure out in-house. But we've got a lot of guys that can play winning football for us, and there's going to be some guys that have stepped up like we've had all season. You know, obviously we lost Jordan Burch earlier in the season, had some guys step up and play big roles and help us there. There's plenty of guys that can help us and have played winning football on offense, and that's our job to, you know, create those opportunities for guys. And it's also their job in practice to create those opportunities. So there's going to be some more opportunities for guys. We'll see what it looks like as they get out there."

Lanning also discussed Traeshon Holden's development since a mistake in the Ohio State game, noting his accountability and improvement. "Yeah, it's an everyday process for every single person on our team. You know, we do a good, bad, ugly when we go to the doctor, and we did that this morning. One of the very first plays I got to show the team was the screen pass to Kenyon Sadiq, and you got to point out, you know, Traeshon Holden's effort blocking, right? Everyone wants to acknowledge some of the great pass catches that he made, which were really impactful, but I was really proud of that performance. And then his ability, watching that play, he just blocked somebody's tail all the way out of bounds and then turned around and get back and be able to play the next play. I think that's a great moment of growth for him. You know, also had, you know, obviously an elite play on the scramble, big completion there at the end of the game to extend a drive. So proud of his performance and what he's been able to do, and also acknowledge the parts where in the game he wasn't right and he can grow and get better. So I thought he did what he needed to do for the team to have success. And when you have somebody go down and there's other moving parts and you're playing a different position than maybe you practiced all week, I thought that was impressive just to be able to deal with the musical chairs that kind of exist there at wide out time and those guys be able to go out."

When asked about Kyler Kasper, Lanning was uncertain about his return. "Yeah, I don't know that he will. And again, we'll always put the player first. He's trying his tail off to rehab his way back. He's been doing such a great job for us this year. I'm really proud of his growth. But if he's able to, fantastic. But I'm not anticipating that necessarily happening."

Lanning previewed Maryland's offense, specifically highlighting their wide receivers and explosive passing game. "Yeah, 10 [Tai Felton] and 1 [Kaden Prather] are both really dynamic wideouts. You know, they've really opened up in the passing game, you know, top 10 in the nation, you know, as a passing team. They create a lot of explosive plays. You know, it's, you know, Coach Locksley does an unbelievable job there on offense and Coach Gattis of creating some, you know, advantageous matchups when it comes to their RPO game and their ability to get the ball in space to those guys. So, they're all threats for big plays. They're explosive play threats consistently, and their quarterback's delivering the ball really well to them right now."

Regarding punt return duties, Lanning said multiple players are being considered. "Yeah, we'll take a look at multiple guys. But we practice it every single day in practice. You know, and I think that's a tough position that we put Ryan in. He's fielded some really good ones this season. We saw him field one earlier this season and take a big hit. That's a tough situation to put a freshman in there. And I think it's a growth moment for him. But we'll continue to see what we evaluate in practice. And then as coaches, I think there's some challenges there for us to make it more challenging for those guys when they do catch the ball. What's it look like after that, right? And I think that's somewhere for us to grow. But we'll evaluate it at practice and you guys will see it when it comes to fruition."

Preparing for Maryland, Lanning acknowledged the challenge of facing a conference opponent they had little history with, though he did not explicitly answer if it felt strange.

When asked about stopping Maryland's potent passing attack, Lanning stressed taking away a team's strength. "Yeah, you always want to take away a team's strength. And I think that sometimes it can seem like it's just being regurgitated, like this is what it's going to take to win the game. But we always spend a lot of time evaluating what does it take to have success against a team. So, the best defenses in college football consistently are always good at stopping the run. Right. That's, you know, teams that win winning football games are always good at running the ball and stopping the run. So that's an important trait. But certainly you want to be able to take away a team's strength."

Lanning praised the cohesion of Oregon's secondary, a group that has gelled quickly despite many players coming from the transfer portal. "Yeah, ultimately, I think our players have each other's back, right? And there's times where, again, it's advantageous for the defensive backs because we're doing more with less up front. And then on the other end, we've been aggressive at times, and we're doing more up front, which means they have to be able to do it, but hopefully for less time in the back end. And those guys have done really good playing off each other, understanding situations, and will continue to get challenged as the year goes on, but they've done a good job of executing."

As early National Signing Day approaches, Lanning was asked about recruiting and how upcoming games could impact their efforts. "Yeah, great question. You know, recruiting always matters, right? And it's something you can't just do sometimes. You got to do it all the time. You got to do it every day. So, I think every single game, regardless of home or away, impacts our ability to have success when it comes to bringing in great players. I think players across the country right now see that what we're able to do and how our players are performing and know that they want to be a part of that. If they want a challenge, if they want to compete for a team that's competing to win, that we're going to put them in position to be able to do that. And our guys being able to have success. So it certainly always matters. And really, that's just part of the landscape of college football, of juggling the different times that exist when it comes to signing days, when it comes to being able to be on the road recruiting. All those things are a challenge, but we want to be the team that can manage that the best."

Lanning also spoke about his familiarity with Maryland head coach Mike Locksley, noting that they had first met at the Broyles Award. "Yeah, I've just obviously known him through college athletics and watched what he's been able to do a little bit more from afar, and then we really bumped into each other at the Broyles Award. I think it was the first time I was there at the Broyles Award. And I've stayed connected. Obviously, I've got the link up with him a couple times at Big Ten meetings, and I think he's always been a guy that presents challenges when you talk about who are guys that are hard to defend. I think he's always done a really good job of that in college football."

When asked about his approach to injury disclosure, Lanning made it clear that he had no plans to change. "Yeah, I never really disclosed anything. So I'll continue probably not to do that. But I haven't thought about it that deep. I was just a PE major, man. I never thought about that far down the road."

As the Ducks prepare for their next game, Lanning remains focused on managing injuries, refining the game plan, and ensuring players are ready to step up. The matchup against Maryland presents new challenges, but Lanning’s confidence in his team’s ability to compete was evident throughout his remarks.