Let’s take a look at some of the quotes that Oregon’s head coach Dan Lanning had to say that referenced Indiana specifically in his Monday press conference that actually was held jointly alongside Curt Cignetti.
It’s a custom of the college football season for head coaches across the nation to meet with the media towards the beginning of the week and discuss the prior week’s matchup and preview their upcoming test. Fans are often privy to the quotes coming out of their own team’s HQ, but what about their upcoming opponents’?
Q: Opening statement…
“Got an unbelievable amount of respect for Coach Cignetti and the job that he’s done at Indiana. You watch this team on film, obviously we got to experience it firsthand; this is one of if not the best coached teams in college football. They play with unbelievable technique. They challenge you in every facet; in special teams, defensively, offensively.
They’ve got great quarterback play, which I think is a secret to being in this position that they’re in. And you watch this group, they play together. They’ve got great answers. They do what they do extremely well.
And on defense they challenge you in every way. They give you a lot of different looks. But this is just a group that’s obviously playing their best football now. You saw that in their most recent game. And, again, just honored to get the opportunity to go share a field with Coach and the job that he’s done there.”
Q: Coach Lanning, I’m curious, when you go against Bryant Haines’ defense, he was very good against you guys and then they did it for the rest of the season. When you as a head coach study them on team, you see what out of that defense that makes them as elite as they are?
“Yeah. In a lot of ways you’d call it an illusion defense. They show you one thing and they take something else away. They’re really good at post-snap movement, which makes it difficult for the quarterback. Their defensive line plays with relentless effort. They’re tough to block up front. And then the technique continues to show up. They’ve got a guy basically playing quarterback there at linebacker that’s able to get them lined up and execute. They’ve got a strong corner there in Ponds. They fly to the ball and they attack it in the air.
Probably the best zone break defense I’ve seen this year in college football. They do an unbelievable job there, and they get hats. Obviously it all starts with stopping the run. They do a great job with that.
Q: Both coaches, starting with Curt. How different is — from what you saw in the Orange Bowl — what Oregon’s coverages were in the Orange Bowl compared to what you saw back in October? And for Dan, who and what prompted those changes, not just relative to October, but over the course of the season?
CURT CIGNETTI: “Well, I’ll be honest with you. I’m seeing some different things, some different techniques, but also, with the college football calendar the way it is, we have 13 portal guys on campus right now. So from 10:00 till 2:00 my Oregon prep got cut a little bit short.
So, you know, I’m going to pick up on that later this evening. But philosophically, core base, they look very similar to what they did. There are some new things showing up. But the bottom line is, you know, they got guys inside. You know, good job stopping the run. They don’t give up many yards rushing. They can put heat on the passer outside and with their pressure package, and they do a good job covering and swarming the ball and they do a nice job pre-snap of disguising their coverages.
DAN LANNING: “Yeah. And just to build off that sentiment first, I’ll tell you, Coach Cignetti, keep focusing on those portal guys.
We’re going through the same thing here. Sorry, I did a breakfast with some recruits this morning. It is what it is. Right? But I think on defense you always have to adapt a little bit more to the team you’re playing, and I’d say regardless of what the game is, you want to try to take away their strengths. Some of the stuff that we did previous game was built to the strengths of Texas Tech. Some of the stuff we’ll do in this game have to be built around the strengths of Indiana and what we have to do there. Hopefully we are multiple and can pitch different looks, but you also have to ride the horse that got you here and do what you do well.”
Q: Coach Lanning, before the playoff run, Dante Moore said that this Indiana game he treated it a little bigger than it was, but he’s learned from that. Now you guys play Indiana again, in a much bigger stage, with a trip to the national title on the line. How do you from a coaching standpoint, how do you make sure that your quarterback doesn’t treat this game bigger than what it is?
“I think when games don’t go your way, you’re always trying to look for answers and reasons why. And it’s really simple. They blocked better. They tackled better. They moved the ball and controlled the clock. They converted third downs. You know, and it was all relatively close going into the fourth quarter, and then we turned the ball over.
So you try to find all these moments that, okay, this was the difference. It’s every play, right? Every play added up and every play mattered. When you’re playing a team with great technique that has great scheme like Indiana, that’s the edge.
But, again, I know Dante is trying to find, okay, what are the things that didn’t go right and how can he be better. I have a lot of confidence in Dante and the way he preps, and knowing he maybe felt like he forced some things in this first game. He’s not the same guy, like I said earlier, at this point in the season.
Q: We’ve heard a lot about the transfer portal and name, image and likeness and all those pieces, but when we’re looking at the culture of these teams, just what you can say to that effect, the family over self, because there’s a reason why you get to where you get to and to have success like you’ve both had. So what you can say about culture and family over simply just looking at the individual self.
“I think to get to this point in the season, culture is a word that’s overused, certainly, in our sport. But you don’t get to this point if you’re not able to be selfless, and those are the lessons you try to teach in football.
You have to think of the group and the team over yourself. And to be at this point, that means there’s a lot of players that made that decision, and you have to realize that individual success is going to come from team success.
I think if you look at both of our teams, you see a lot of guys that are having a ton of individual success, and it all started with somebody else around them helping them have that success. There’s no great quarterback without great O line players. There’s no great secondary play without great D line play, and that’s what’s great about the sport of football is the quicker your team can realize that, the team and connection are going to be separating factors, the quicker you’re going to have success.
And we’ve certainly been able to create some of that here at Oregon, and obviously Indiana has been able to create the same thing.”