STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 30, 2023

Dan Lanning

Postgame Media Conference

Oregon - 42, Stanford - 6

DAN LANNING: We felt like it was going to be a physical game. It was physical early. Those three and outs early on on offense really hurt us. Right, didn't get a lot of possessions. They did a good job of controlling the clock. But I thought our guys responded. We just had to get through that lull to start.

You know, took care of some penalties. We're able to -- you know, it -- early, they were able to get some runs. They got a lot of runs early in the game. You know, QB runs. Something we knew we were going to see. They took advantage of it. And we were doing a good job with that early. But I think we shut that down later in the game. Overall, I thought our players came to perform today.

Q. (No microphone.)

DAN LANNING: You know, I think our guys had heightened awareness all day. And there was a couple times I thought he was running free where we didn't cover him great. But the pressure combined with the coverage, I think it -- you know, not being able to get him the ball. We knew 84 -- he's a hell of a player. He's one of the best we'll see in this conference, one of the best we'll face all year. I knew if we handled that and quarterback runs, we'd be in a good position.

Q. What was the difference between the halves and the fast start versus the slow start? (No microphone.)

DAN LANNING: Yeah, I think ultimately we were kind of hurting ourselves. We were playing behind the chains a little bit on offense. We weren't having sufficient runs. I thought our coaches made some good adjustments in the second half about what runs we like.

They had some good -- they did some schematic changes early in the game, too. Stuff we hadn't seen from them before, we had to adapt to that and be able to adjust our call sheet based on that. And our players just knew it was the long haul.

We talked about winning the fourth quarter. And we won the fourth quarter. We didn't win it last week. You know, just all those pieces added together, I think it came together at the end for us.

Q. It seemed like Bo settled in after the first couple of drives. What did you see from him?

DAN LANNING: Yeah, I thought he showed patience, right? If you go in there forcing it -- like I said, they pitched a couple different looks at us. And then when we came out in the second half, they really played the defense they'd been playing all year.

Once they got back to what they had done all year, we had some really good answers for it. And they got us on some funkier stuff they were doing earlier on.

Q. (No microphone.)

DAN LANNING: Yeah, that's what we talk about when we say strength in numbers, right? Like, we have a guy that's up, ready to play. He's a really quality player. And he competed on some tough throws today and was able to get physical. Had a good blitz at the end there. Was able to get in on third down. So exactly what I expected from him. We brought him here for a purpose and he did a great job.

Q. Another 100-yard day for Troy. I think every defense knows they have to try to take him away in order to be successful. What is it about him?

DAN LANNING: Well, I think our coaches, one, do a good job of finding ways to move him around to where we can find match-ups. You know, I think our quarterback has a heightened awareness of where he's at. And when we have a change to get it to him, we want to. And then he does a good job finding the ball in the area. And he adjusts to the ball really well.

Certainly, he's a strength of our team. But what's great is we have other strengths around him. So you can't just dedicate all your time to one player because there's some other players on the field that are going to hurt on the field you if you do that.

Q. (Question concerning Oregon's approach to their upcoming bye week.) (No microphone.)

DAN LANNING: Yeah, we're not going into bye week, we're going into workweek. Right? Our guys know when what our goals are, what we have to accomplish. Right? A lot of other teams are going to relax this week, we're going to get better.

You know, we started exactly how we expected to start. Right? We're about to go play a real opponent. Those guys are playing good ball up north. So we got to bring our best. It's got to be one of our great preparations. We got some really tough teams down the road. So we got to continue to build and play our best ball moving forward.

Q. (Question concerning a missed field goal.) (No microphone.)

DAN LANNING: Yeah, you know, I think our guys knew exactly what we were trying to accomplish. I probably could have called that time-out a little earlier. I let, like, 10 seconds run out the clock there. But you try and make a decision. Are they going to go for it or not? Once you figure out, Hey, they're probably not going to go for it, that's one where I could have called that time-out just a little earlier.

But our guys understood the situation, understood the time and clock. To be able to run the ball at the very end there and get it within a field goal kicked position there, call a time-out, that's really smart. Bucky going down instead of fighting for extra yards -- we talked about being the smartest team in college football, and those are the situations you got to be able to -- you know, Cam's going to make that kick 9 out of 10 times, you know, 99 out of 100 times. And it didn't happen today. That's all right, we're trained for it now.

Q. (No microphone.)

DAN LANNING: Yeah, I don't completely know yet. We'll have to get with the medical staff and figure out exactly where they're at. Like I said, strength in numbers showed up today. We had some other guys that could go in there and contribute.

Q. What did you see out of Jordan James, especially off that drive where he scored the touchdown?

DAN LANNING: I love running backs that look for contact. I love running backs that don't look to just run out of bounds. And Jordan James, when he touches the ball, he looks to score. So he ran hard. He's a physical runner. He's proven to get north and south. I thought he did a good job of that today.

Q. You said Monday to bring your own juice. How do you feel like you guys did? And what did you think of the crowd that was here that was pretty pro Oregon?

DAN LANNING: Yeah, I'm so grateful to our fans. It felt like a home game in a lot of ways with the juice that we had from our crowd. You know, when they travel like that, that makes it a special environment for wherever we go. And I have that same expectation for them the rest of the year. Because they certainly made it a great environment for us.

I thought our players came in with the right mentality. We didn't play any music all week at practice, you know, for a reason. And I told the players, Hey, when I hear you singing on the sideline, I know we've done something right, right? So, you know, those guys, they brought the juice.

Again, we didn't start out as fast as we wanted to. A little slow on D at times. Didn't give up a touchdown, right? But a little slow with those three and outs. Once we got through that, we kind of figured it out and settled in.

Q. You mentioned kind of the work this week and I'm wondering, I guess, last year from this year, did you change anything in handling the bye weeks? (No microphone.)

DAN LANNING: Yeah, I mean, we've adjusted some things. But, you know, we have a plan in place. We'll work future opponents. We'll work, certainly, Washington. We got some good teams coming up. So we got to -- and then we've really got to self-scout ourselves. It's time to peel back the layers and figure out, Okay, what do we have to do to be a dominant team moving forward?

Q. You really set the tone after last week's game. There was so much going into it. A completely different coach. Now, you're entering the bye week. (No microphone.) What do you want the tone -- you talk about working this week. What's the message to the team? (No microphone.)

DAN LANNING: Play the game, not the occasion. No difference than any other big games that we've been a part of. We're going to be a part of a lot more. It's about the 20 mile margin consistently. On Monday, we can't go out there and march 60 miles. All right? We're going to march 20 miles and be consistent with our approach. Find something we can get better at. Aim small, miss small.

We're going to pick small details that we can improve schematically, individually for each person on our team. And then we're going to try to figure out how to take away other teams' strengths.

Q. (No microphone.)

DAN LANNING: Yeah, I mean, he's a big man. He's hard to block, right? We've got -- you talk about differences in teams this year, last year. One thing that we have is we have a front where guys can roll and make an impact. And the thing that makes it really hard to go play quarterback when you got somebody who's on your neck. And he's proven that he can be a guy that's like that.

Q. How does the level of intensity change from a super high energy game last week against Colorado to a game like this week, and then you got the bye week, and then, obviously, you have a top 10 matchup after the bye week? How does that change?

DAN LANNING: It's based on the maturity of your team. I think we have a mature team, we have good leaders on this team. And, again, it's about consistency. You can't let your highs get too high and your lows get too low. I think our guys understand the approach. They certainly understand the mission at hand.

Q. (No microphone.)

DAN LANNING: I think our guys are tired of doing up downs. That's probably what I would attribute it to. Right? So we'll be doing less.