Coming off a worst-case scenario season-opener in that 49-3 loss to Georgia over the weekend, there was fresh anticipation for what Oregon coach Dan Lanning would say Monday as he and the Ducks aim to turn the corner quickly.

While acknowledging that the Bulldogs are one of the premier teams in the country, Lanning emphasized that the loss was more on himself and his team, as he feels that they did not bring the level of play that he expected.

Lanning talked about the specifics of their performance and what needs to be addressed in this week of practice in preparation for Eastern Washington.

"Obviously that result, it starts with me. I said it after the game. We've got good players and we can play a lot better than we played," Lanning said. "That said you can't sit around and spend a lot of time looking in the past -- you've got to start working on the future and we're about to play a really good opponent in Eastern Washington. We know they're going to air it out and throw the ball all over the yard."

Lanning said part of moving forward started with a "walk through" of every correction that needed to be made from the game.

What encouraged him most was the ownership in that process he saw from his players.

"Pulling up the film today, I think our players said, 'Yeah, I see what you mean.' And that's the one thing I'm proud of is all these guys say, 'Yeah, we can definitely get better at that,'" he said. "We had players today reload reps and say, 'No, I need that again, coach. That wasn't good enough. I didn't do it to my standard.' To me, that's when you're going to have a chance to be successful is when the players are saying, 'No, I want to do that over -- that really wasn't to my standard.'"

It's been much discussed how Lanning and Georgia coach Kirby Smart have a close relationship from the four years Lanning spent on staff there with the Bulldogs.

After the game, Smart shared some apropos perspective with his protege, and Lanning also relayed an example he experienced last season when Georgia lost the SEC championship game to Alabama by 17 points but went on to win the national championship by beating the Crimson Tide in the rematch.

Certainly the situation here is quite different, but the mindset is the same, he said.

"I've been coaching for a while and I've been a part of losses that are disheartening, that you're really disappointed in, and to me it's all about the response. There's an event, how do you respond to it and that's going to lead to your outcome," Lanning said. "I was a part of a situation last year where SEC championship game I walked off the field and I think a lot of us were really disheartened, but that being said, how you respond and the effect of response is what really leads to success down the road.

"Georgia's a complete team. I'll be impressed if there's a lot of teams in college football better than that team right now. They're certainly kicking on all cylinders. I know talking to Coach Smart after the game, he reminded me of his first season when he was down 31-0 at halftime to Ole Miss in an away game and that's a part of it. ... Our goal is to get better this week, today, next moment. You can't live in the past, but you're also not pointing at other teams -- you're looking at yourself and how you can improve."

He touched on what he most wants to see out of his players come Saturday as Oregon hosts an Eastern Washington team that went 10-3 last season and is ranked No. 12 in both major FCS polls.

“I want to see our guys play fast,” Lanning said. “I want to walk away and say ‘Okay, that offense has an identity, that defense has an identity in that game.”

In the social media era of college football, there are unfortunate things that student-athletes have to go through after suffering a tough loss, and Lanning told the media that he had a simple message for his team.

“We affect outcomes here,” Lanning said. “Our coaches, our players, we affect outcomes. Not the outside noise.”

Sometimes those outside factors impact underclassmen specifically, and after four true-freshman saw the field against Georgia, some wondered what gave Lanning the courage to insert them into the game.

“If you’re good enough, you’re old enough,” Lanning said. “We saw some freshmen mistakes. But we also saw some guys that were resilient and tough and can play winning football for us.”

Lanning also brought news defensive tackle Popo Aumavae is out for the season with a foot injury and Ryan Walk will most likely be in the lineup for the Easter Washington game after not playing the second half last Saturday.