Dan Lanning’s Landmark Win For Oregon Adds to Championship Aspirations

By Kyle Golik

If anyone felt as much pressure as Oregon head coach Dan Lanning did last week, it had to be the Eugene fire marshall in charge of determining how many people could safely take in the spectacle that was going to be Oregon vs. Ohio State.

While the 1993 Portland Grand Prix still reigns as the highest-attended sporting event in the state of Oregon at 63,000, nothing against Emerson Fittipaldi, Nigel Mansell, and Arie Luyendyk, all hall-of-fame drivers in their own right, but that event pales in comparison of how important the one that was held in Autzen Stadium on Saturday.

What the 60,129 viewed, the largest crowd in Autzen history, was undeniably the biggest win in program history as Oregon secured their first win ever against a team ranked in the Top 2 (entered 0-19-1 all-time in those matchups).

Entering the press room, Lanning jokes, “Anybody got a heart rate monitor?” The significance did not escape him:

“Yeah, huge man. You know, Oregon's a winner and our fans, you know, they were, they up last night at like 10 at night, came out for game day or were up early this morning. Unbelievable crowd this morning, all the way through the game, right? I don't know if anybody sat down the entire game, but we felt them the entire game. I mean, I had to cover my ear. I wear a single earpiece. I had to cover my ear a lot of the game to be able to communicate and hear, and that's a good thing. So we asked them to yell from the minute they got in to the minute they left, and they did an unbelievable job of that.”

What made it even more unbelievable, to secure the win it was Lanning and defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi matching wits against former Oregon head coach and current Ohio State Buckeye offensive coordinator Chip Kelly , who guided Oregon to a 46-7 record between 2009-2012, three Pac-10/Pac-12 Championships, and a berth in the 2010 BCS National Championship Game.

With a little luck, Ohio State made many unforced errors, whether it was freshman Wide Receiver Jeremiah Smith’s offensive pass interference call, or systemically no one realizing they needed to stop the clock and leverage their final time out. The game ended when Ohio State quarterback Will Howard, lacking time awareness, scrambled and did not slide soon enough to get the final time out called.

While luck was on the side of Oregon, the Ducks did create their own opportunities. Oregon won the turnover battle, outrushed Ohio State, and did not allow quarterback Dillon Gabriel to be sacked, the keys to beating Ohio State in a big game .

Gabriel still had to contend with an elite Ohio State secondary. Gabriel was flirting with an 80% completion percentage prior to the game. Currently, it sits at 76.1%, a 22-34 day cost Gabriel in that department but the well-traveled quarterback knew what he had to do to win the game. Gabriel’s signature play was not created by his arm but by his legs early in the fourth quarter as he weaved through an Ohio State defense playing the pass as Gabriel went in 27 yards to get Oregon up by one.

“Yeah, unbelievable decision there by Dillon... You hope that you give an opportunity for your players to see the very look they could possibly see within a week, but it’s just not reality. So, I don’t know how many times Dillon actually got to see that exact look, you know, of a tight crash, you know, from the edge. But he did an unbelievable job pulling the ball there in that moment. And then again, if you look at that play, you’re going to see guys with bodies on bodies down the field, you know, blocking their tail off for him so he can create a big play.”

Dan Lanning on Dillon Gabriel's fourth-quarter touchdown run

The evolution Lanning has gone under from his very first game, being routed by eventual national champion Georgia 49-3, to being ultra aggressive at times when Oregon is chasing points on the backfired attempts, to losing three chess matches to Kalen DeBoer and Washington (think of the fire if the loser in The Game or the Iron Bowl would have if they lost twice in the same season). Lanning has a program ready to contend for championships.

Earlier last week, Kelly was asked how he built the Oregon program, Kelly paid respect to those before, “Yea, well I didn’t build the program. Rich Brooks and Mike Bellotti built the program, I just kind of jumped in after Mike. It’s a special place, and I think it’s great for our players. A chance for them to play in one of the special places in college football.”

When Brooks came to Oregon in 1977, the program never was able to find the right replacement for Len Casanova, who coached at Oregon between 1951 to 1966. It took Brooks more than a decade to get Oregon back to respectability, aiding in the patience was his dominance over Oregon State. As Brooks got a foundation prepared, he handed it to Mike Bellotti, who had a Hall of Fame career at Oregon guiding them to an 116-55 record and two Pac-10 championships.

Kelly inherited Bellotti’s program, and it seemed Oregon did not find the right coach in Mark Helfrich, or in other cases with Willie Taggart (Florida State) and Mario Cristobal (Miami) it was a stepping stone job. That term most likely did not sit well with Phil Knight of Nike, who has invested more than a billion dollars for the University of Oregon.

What was refreshing as the coaching carousel heated up, it was Lanning who chose to stay fiercely loyal to Oregon . He even used the opportunity to recruit saying while other coaches look to leave, he is there for anyone who wants to be a Duck.

While the win against Ohio State has Oregon in the driver’s seat in the Big Ten and College Football Playoff, Lanning has not lost sight that this isn’t the end of the road, “I’m really proud of our guys, but I’m also really excited to, you know, figure out what we can go attack and improve. Because the team we are today, October 12th, is not going to be the same team we are in December.”

Oregon has a favorable schedule the rest of the way, Illinois, Washington visit Autzen, with the Ducks having to visit Michigan and Wisconsin could be traps as well. The path to Indianapolis is a good one for Oregon, the last time Lanning coached there was with Georgia as they won their first national championship since 1980. Oregon seeks their first, Saturday proved Lanning has them ready to add to their empty trophy case.