Key quotes from Dan Lanning, with context, following Oregon’s Week 3 win over Hawaii

The No. 13 Oregon Ducks captured a 55-10 blowout win over Hawaii at Autzen Stadium Saturday night and did so with relative ease.

Even still, head coach Dan Lanning found plenty to take issue with during his postgame press conference.

Lanning fielded questions for the better part of 12 minutes and was candid about his team’s penalty struggles over the past two weeks. He also discussed the Ducks’ looming Week 4 matchup with Colorado, among other topics.

Here are some key quotes from Lanning’s Saturday presser, with some added context to cut through the coach-speak.

Q: How do you feel your secondary performed overall?

Lanning: “I thought we had bodies on bodies, primarily for most of the night. Sometimes the best coverage at times can be a good rush. I thought we had a good rush throughout the night. But again, we have to learn to be able to play with the ball in the air and not cause penalties. Because you look at the third down penalty there that led to an opportunity for them to go down and have an opportunity to score. A really solid performance at times, but we’re certainly looking for opportunities to get better.”

Context: Oregon held Hawaii’s pass-heavy attack to just 142 yards passing on 44 attempts. The Rainbow Warriors produced just three passing plays that went for 10-plus yards and their longest completion of the night was 15 yards.

But, for the second week in a row, the Ducks were hindered by penalties in the secondary. Oregon committed two pass-interference penalties — including one from Dontae Manning on 3rd-and-13 that extended a Hawaii drive early in the fourth quarter.

Q: How do you address penalties this week? Is it different than last week?

Lanning: “We’d better not be talking about it next week. … I’m not going to do the same thing again and again and expect different results. So we’re gonna do something different, right? We’ll figure out if we can get it fixed. If we can’t, then they can’t be on the field. If you’re gonna get penalties, you can’t be on the field. And that’s gonna be that simple, right? If you get a penalty you can’t play for us. You’re hurting the team.”

Context: Oregon committed nine penalties for 76 yards against Hawaii on Saturday. During last week’s win at Texas Tech, it committed 14 penalties for 124 yards.

Lanning was candid about the ways he and his staff would go about trying to fix penalties along the offensive line and in the secondary after the Ducks’ win over the Red Raiders. However, his team shot itself in the foot on several occasions against the Rainbow Warriors. Hawaii’s first score of the game came on a field goal on the final play of the second half. One play earlier, the Rainbow Warriors had missed a field goal, but Dontae Manning jumped offsides to extend the drive.

Q: Penalties aside, is there anything that jumps out to you that you weren’t happy about?

Lanning: “I’m gonna find something. Yeah, I’m gonna find something. I can’t tell you something right now, but I’ll find something. We’re not gonna be satisfied with that result. That being said, I did think that we were really close to playing a complete game. Like, I thought in a lot of ways, we were really close to playing a complete game. But that overshadowed it a little bit for me.”

Context: “I’ll have to review the film,” has become a common colloquialism for Lanning during his time at Oregon. While penalties were the Ducks’ most notable issue on Saturday, it’s likely that we’ll get a more detailed answer from Lanning during his Monday press conference.

Q: What did you make of Jordan Burch’s performance?

Lanning: “I know when that guy plays with violent, physical effort — like, I know he’s capable of — that he can be a dominant player. And I think that showed up early in the game. I thought we were assignment-sound tonight. Sometimes in the past two weeks — I’m talking about the entire defense, the entire offense — but when we execute our jobs, we’re generally going to like the results. I thought everybody in the framework of defense executed their jobs and they made the plays when they came to them. When their opportunity came, they did a good job making the play. And Jordan did a great job on that rush tonight. I hope that’s first of many (sacks) for him.”

Context: Junior defensive end Jordan Burch delivered the first sack of his Oregon career on Saturday when he brought down Brayden Schager for a five-yard loss in the first quarter. The former 5-star signee, who transferred in from South Carolina during the offseason, had a relatively quiet first two games for the Ducks.

Against Hawaii, though, Burch played a more prominent role than he did against Texas Tech last week.

Q: What did you make of Ty Thompson’s play?

Lanning: “I thought he was extremely engaged throughout the game and ready as soon as his opportunity called and handled it really well. I know the rollout pass there, the naked that he had early. I think he probably wishes that went back and put in front of Casey a little bit. But overall, he’s done a good job of operating our system when he’s gotten in.”

Context: Oregon backup quarterback Ty Thompson replaced starter Bo Nix early in the third quarter and led the Ducks’ offense during its final four possessions. He finished the day 5-for-7 passing with 102 yards and a touchdown and worked with the first-unit offense for two drives.

Thompson hit Traeshon Holden with a well-placed pass on a short route early in the fourth quarter, and Holden took it to the house for a 60-yard touchdown.

Saturday marked Thompson’s second bright cameo of the season. He went 7-for-8 passing for 81 yards and a touchdown against Portland State in Week 1.

Q: How have you seen Jahlil Florence improve this season?

Lanning: “Yeah, I think he’s always been capable. I think he’s focused. He’s gone to another level. I think there’s another level in there; I think there’s another step for that guy. But I think he’s got a great ability. I want to continue to challenge him to get better and continue to make plays and become elite in that area.”

Context: For the second straight week, sophomore Jahlil Florence and senior Khyree Jackson monopolized the playing time at cornerback for the Ducks. Dontae Manning played a reduced role after starting the season-opener, and Trikweze Bridges did not play his first defensive snap until the third quarter.

Florence, who played 59 defensive snaps at Texas Tech last week, appears to have taken hold of a starting role in Tosh Lupoi’s defense.

Q: How would you assess the job Deion Sanders has done at Colorado?

Lanning: “Yeah, obviously I’m going to have to take a deeper dive in. But you know, you have to be a fool to not recognize the results that they’ve created on a team that didn’t have a lot of success before. So he’s done a phenomenal job. He’s recruited a lot of players that I’m familiar with personally. They’re playing for him. He’s got a good roster, and they’re winning games. Doesn’t always matter how, but they’re winning games. So obviously, he’s doing something right up there.”

Context: Oregon and No. 18 Colorado are set to meet in Eugene at 12:30 p.m. next Saturday. As I write this, the Buffs just closed out a thrilling double-overtime win over Colorado State. Earlier this year, Lanning took a subtle shot at Colorado during his media day press conference.

Grab your popcorn, folks.

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