At his weekly press conference Monday night, Oregon coach Dan Lanning shared his takeaways after watching the film of the Ducks' 81-7 win over Portland State, highlighted some of the individual performers and gave his scouting report on this week's opponent Texas Tech.
The Ducks travel to Lubbock, Texas, this weekend to take on a Red Raiders team that lost 35-33 in overtime at Wyoming in its season opener.
Here were the 10 most notable comments from Lanning on Monday night ...
1. Takeaways from reviewing the tape from Saturday ...
"I loved the competitiveness, the focus of our guys. We talked about what's a successful game look like -- not a lot of pre-snap, post-snap penalties. We did that. We had a careless penalty on a hold and we had a careless penalty on PBR -- those are two things we have to fix. But walking out of the game clean from that standpoint you love. I love the energy from our players on the sideline. A lot of things that we can fix -- being better on movements from a defensive standpoint. I thought we tackled well in this game, but there were some missed tackles as well that we can do a better job of wrapping up. I think getting the ball to our outside arm on offense so we can work stiff-arm opportunities to move the ball down the field is something we want to focus on. Chasing the ball better with our offensive line and our skill players when they don't have the ball in their hands is something we want to look to improve. We want to be able to connect on some of those shots that we missed -- we still moved the ball well, but you avoid some of those third-and-longs that we hit and had success on when you're able to move the ball on those shots earlier in the series."
2. Scouting Texas Tech ...
"Their tempo. On offense, they're a team that snaps as many snaps as anybody in college football. You're going to see, they're going to be able to go really fast really quick. They lined up in a lot more stacks and bunches than any other team in college football, so you have to be sound in how you handle those rules. I think they had the most snaps in bunch alignments this week of any other team in college football. Offensively, that's a big piece of it. They really have the ability to do two different kinds of offenses where they're wide-open and then they get a tight end in the core and can create some run-game issues and some pass-game issues. They do a great job of attacking down the field vertically, but they set that up with the way that they do screens and quick passes, some quick-games. So I think that's a piece that shows up. Defensively, they're a pressure team. You're going to see a lot of pressures from them. They find ways to pressure in unique ways and they do a good job of running to the ball -- they play with great effort. Effort shows up all over the film on special teams. I think that's somewhere they've been really good. They're aggressive in the return game, they're going to try to bring the ball out and they've been able to create some explosive returns doing that."
3. Impact of staff connections and former Oregon DC Tim DeRuyter now the DC at Texas Tech ...
"I think there's a comfortability with both schemes -- them doing what they do and understanding what they do. I don't think there's a lot of secrets in college football. The film is the resume and that's really what you have to build it off of. Every team changes, you know, and like Coach DeRuyter was here before, there's things he's doing differently now than when he was here before. I expect to see something different. I think they kept a lot of their cards up their sleeve in Game 1 and I think we'll see some unique pieces. They are really challenging from all the different sets they can present on offense. We really have to be able to adjust really well on that, and defensively, like I said, they can bring pressure from anywhere so we have to be prepared for that."
4. Preparing for former Oregon QB Tyler Shough ...
"First thing, he's a winner. The games he started last year, they won. I think he's had a lot of success in that system. They've learned how to use his talents well. He probably doesn't get enough credit as a runner. He can actually take off and make some plays with his feet. He did that some this past game. For them, he really distributes the ball well and understands their system. This system requires the quarterback to be able to get them into the right checks, make the adjustments, communicate with the wideouts and the backs of what's actually going on. He does a good job of that."
5. Preparing for the heat in Texas ...
"There's not a lot I can do for the heat. We're not going to make the guys wear parkas out to practice or anything like that. At the end of the day, good. Good. We want a tough environment, we want to go to a place that's going to be challenging. That's what's exciting about college football -- when you get to go to a place where you know the fans are going to care. 6 p.m., I think they're going to be pretty amped up. That's exciting for us. That's the kind of environment we want to play in. Beyond us preparing, that's all we've got to do."
6. Thoughts on how the new clock rules in college football affect the game ...
"I just think us as a staff, we have an awareness about when the clock rules change, we're really all dialed in on that. We were a really good team in the middle 8 [minutes] last year, that's somewhere we want to be good again and I think that's all about how you manage 2-minute situations at the end of halves and the beginning of the second half. So certainly we know that every possession matters -- that's where it's really changed. And not that every possession didn't matter before, but it means more. You're going to get less possessions in offensive football right now in college so you have to more when you get those possessions."
7. Assessment of freshman edge rusher Matayo Uiagalelei's debut ...
"Just that he can play at this level. He's a talented player. He wants to be good, right? He has a skill set, he's been well-coached in high school -- that's carried over for him now. He has the body and the frame to be a really good player at this level, but he also has a lot of room for growth. He'll be the first one to tell you that. There was a lot of plays that he wishes he had back from Saturday. I'm excited to watch him continue to grow."
8. Evaluation of freshman OL Poncho Laloulu's debut ...
"My favorite thing about Poncho is his physicality. He's a physical player and he's got heavy hands. He can move people up front. He's actually a really intelligent and smart player, he's been able to pick up what we do relatively quick and I think having his big brother on the team is a guy that's pushing him as well. If a coach can't say it, his brother's going to let him know what it needs to look like and I love the combination of those two guys on our team."
9. What led to Emar'rion Winston getting the start at LB ...
"He prepares every single day as a guy that's going to go out there on the field, and when his opportunity comes he does a great job of that. He plays with physicality, he's tough, he's learnable, he's easily coached and he's hungry. So when his opportunity came he did a good job and I think he'll continue to get more opportunities because he does what he's coached to do."
10. The success of the running game in Week 1 ...
"I think we have a really talented running back room and I think our O-line did a good job of moving bodies upfront, but I think we saw a lot of things that we can do even better. I know people may not see that from outside looking in, but we're about to play a real opponent. The team that we played is going to be a good team in their league but they're not going to be the level of team we're going to play in the future. As I just mentioned, Texas Tech has a really good interior on their defensive line, they have good edges, so that's going to be a good challenge for us moving bodies up front. Our backs are certainly talented enough to do it, but we have to go in there with the right approach."