Coming straight from the practice field to meet with reporters for his final media availability of the week, Oregon coach Dan Lanning praised the No. 6-ranked Ducks' approach Wednesday as they continue to prepare for their rivalry game with No. 25 Washington.

"I think our guys' approach today was, in my mind, one of the best Wednesday practices we've had this year. So you hope that carries over to the game. Minds in the right spot, guys are working really hard, excited to get to it," Lanning said.

"Player-led teams are the best teams, and our guys were demanding the most of each other today."

After Oregon's offensive players spoke to reporters Tuesday, it was the defensive guys' turn Wednesday.

Here were the top five takeaways from theirs and Lanning's comments ...

Lanning continues blaring the Washington fight song during practice this week so that his players are motivated to make sure they don't give the visiting band many chances to play it Saturday in Autzen Stadium.

"Yeah, I'm tired of that song. Definitely tired of that song," Lanning said.

But that doesn't mean he's going to stop playing it.

"I've heard way too much of it all practice, and despite many efforts to try to get him to turn it off he just turns it up louder at practice," defensive back Bennett Williams said. "So I'm done hearing that. Hopefully we don't hear it all on Saturday."

That seems to be the sentiment shared throughout the roster.

"I'm tired of it. I'm tired of it. I don't plan on hearing it none in Autzen," fellow DB Trikweze Bridges said.

For a coach who has been so consistent about framing every week and every opponent as no less important than another, Lanning has made a big deal of the Huskies (7-2, 4-2 Pac-12) visiting Oregon (8-1, 6-0) on Saturday.

"Coach has really been emphasizing it's really rivalry week and it's really hate week. We don't want to hear their fight song, just little things like that," linebacker Jeffrey Bassa said.

This is a potentially challenging matchup for Oregon, given that Washington's greatest strength coincides with one of the Ducks' vulnerabilities.

Washington quarterback Michael Penix leads college football with 3,232 passing yards (359.11 per game) to go with 23 touchdowns and 5 interceptions.

The Ducks rank 117th out of 131 FBS teams in pass defense, giving up 276.6 yards per game through the air.

"Playing a guy that's a lefty is a little different than playing a right-handed quarterback, but he's an accurate passer. He obviously has a lot of confidence in the guys he's throwing to right now. You see that show up consistently on film and he knows how to operate what they're doing," Lanning said. "So yeah, he's a tough one to defend. Strong arm, there's a lot of throws that he can make."

Said Williams: "No. 1 passing offense in the nation or whatever it is, lefty, obviously a little different look. Gets that ball out really quick, has a quick release. He does, I think, the best job out of all the quarterbacks we've seen of going read to read and keeping his plays alive. He's not a huge scrambler because they need him in the game, don't want him to get hurt, but he has the ability to. He can run and create plays with his feet. But his eyes are always downfiled, and he's looking from his reads to his reads and he doesn't panic. So he's definitely going to be a tough challenge this week."

The lefty Penix is part of the challenge -- the talented receiving corps on the other end of his passes is another.

Rome Odunze has 57 receptions for 858 yards and 6 touchdowns, ranking third nationally with 107.2 receiving yards per game. And Jalen McMillan has 49 catches for 670 yards and 6 TDs.

"These are [some] of the best receivers we're going to see. They have a good plan of the way they operate. They have a lot of shifts and motions," Bridges said.