Dan Lanning Admits Being ‘Annoyed’ at Northwestern After Putting His Locker Room on Strong Notice

Oregon entered the Northwestern game in Evanston, Illinois, as 30.5-point favorites, and the game ended as expected. Oregon shut out Northwestern for three quarters before David Braun’s offense scored two touchdowns, as the Ducks finished 34-14. The O-line protected Moore flawlessly, and Dante Moore became surgical, completing 16 of the 20 passes for 178 yards. Other units like RBs led by Dierre Hill Jr., and WRs led by Malik Benson did a dominant job, without many hiccups. But despite that win, Dan Lanning has come out with some resentment from that game from Northwestern fans.

Dan Lanning, in his post-game press conference, praised his team for going 3-0 till now in this season. But the environment at Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium was too intimidating for Lanning, as he complained about it in the presser. The head coach complained about the “loudspeakers” blaring out music loudly behind the sideline, making communication difficult for the coaching staff.

“Those gotta be the loudest speakers behind us that I’ve ever heard. Like, that’s false crowd noise, right, and it was annoying,” said Lanning. However, instead of urging to remove the speakers, Lanning suggested the Wildcats something else altogether. “So I mean, that’s something they should keep,” said Lanning with a smile on his face. Also, it looks like that ‘intimidating‘ atmosphere did its job and limited Oregon greatly.

Oregon’s offense, led by Will Stein, steamrolled Montana State 59-13 in Week 1, followed by a 69-3 humbling of Oklahoma State. Going into week 3, a similar scoreline was expected, considering the quality Oregon possessed. But Northwestern’s defense limited Oregon to just 34 points, and came out with an unexpected fourth-quarter performance, along with Dante Moore throwing an interception. That said, overall, it was a dominant showing by Oregon.

For instance, in the first quarter, with 5:09 minutes left on the clock, Bryce Boetecher grabbed his second career interception, showing defensive dominance, fueling Jaydon Limar’s touchdown in the red zone. Apart from him, the running backs had a great game on the other side of the ball, notching up 3 touchdowns, while Dierre Hill Jr accumulated 94 yards for a touchdown. However, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning isn’t fully satisfied.

Dan Lanning isn’t satisfied with his players for their clumsy fourth-quarter display

Oregon didn’t allow a single Northwestern point by the time the third quarter ended, and expected a shutout victory. However, Dante Moore’s interception with 14:53 minutes left on the clock on 2nd-and-3 looked to turn the game around for the Wildcats. That interception gave Northwestern the confidence, as on 6:20, Caleb Komolade ran for a 1-yard touchdown. And seeing these woes, Dan Lanning’s not happy.

“I got a little sour taste in my mouth for the way we ended. We gotta be able to win the fourth quarter. But ultimately, I saw some good plays and some stuff we can build on,” said Dan Lanning in his post-game presser. The harsh take might have also been because Dante Moore, after that touchdown drive, threw two incompletions at 3:09 and 3:06, which led to another touchdown for Northwestern.

By the time Northwestern’s last touchdown drive started, just 2:55 minutes were left on the clock, and the game was always going to be in favor of Oregon. Yet, a 5-yard run on 1st and 10 followed by a 7-yard pass by Preston Stone led to an incredible 79-yard touchdown for Dashun Reeder. It was unexpected and showed some lack of concentration in Oregon’s D line, which had played an immaculate game till now, accumulating 2 sacks and 4 TFLs. Now, while these mistakes might have been ignored against Northwestern, against big opponents like Penn State in Week 6 or Indiana in Week 8, these would be game-changing errors, and Dan Lanning knows that!!