You could see it in Dan Lanning’s smile after the game.
He wasn’t ready to completely admit it, but he knew his tenth-ranked Ducks had just done something special.
“I had a pretty good feeling this was going to be an awesome day the moment I stepped on that quad” said Lanning opening up his post-game comments.
His Oregon squad just knocked off the No. 9 ranked UCLA Bruins 45-30 and maintained their perfect record in the Pac-12 at 4-0 and a path forward to the Pac-12 Championship.
“A complete team win,” said Lanning.
“We changed the game in special teams. We were able to have some big momentum plays offensively and defensively. When you’re scoring field goals for them and we’re trading them for touchdowns that’s gonna be a recipe for success.
Certainly a lot of things we can get better at. I don’t thing anybody on our team is satisfied and I think that’s what gives this team a chance to be hungry and great.”
There was certainly a smile in those words, but Lanning also knows there’s a lot of football left to play and there’s still work to be done to attain the level of success he sees for his team.
“Our players have a growth mindset” explained Lanning when asked about his teams current winning streak.
“They know every single week it’s an opportunity to get better,…and just because we won this game doesn’t mean we’re not going to look for an opportunity to improve.
Monday, people in this room have heard me frequently say this we’re going to go to the doctor and we’re going to figure out what we’re going to get better at. We’re going to go take our medicine and improve and our teams done that week in and week out.”
POSTGAME; DAN LANNING BREAKS DOWN 45-30 WIN OVER UCLA