Four Things Oregon Coach Dan Lanning Said Ahead of the Ducks’ Trip to Stillwater

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We’ve made it to Wednesday, and thus far there haven’t been any funding-based shots flying between Stillwater and Eugene to add any more tension to Saturday’s game like there was last season.

Oregon coach Dan Lanning was rather complimentary of Oklahoma State coach Eric Morris and quarterback Drew Mestemaker ahead of OSU’s game against Oregon at 11 a.m. Saturday in Stillwater.

Here are four other things Lanning hit on this week to preview the game.

1. Skyler Cassity’s Defense

Lanning is one of the premier defensive minds in college football.

A former linebacker himself, Lanning climbed the coaching ranks on the defensive side of the ball, eventually coordinating Georgia’s defense from 2019 to 2021. The Bulldogs won a national title that last year.

So, Lanning knows what he’s talking about when it comes to good defense, and he seems to be a fan of what OSU defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity brings to the table.

“Skyler Cassity does a really good job there,” Lanning said. “Again, presents a lot of different looks. They’re primarily a four-down team, but they do a lot of stuff ultimately, and they can do it in a lot of different ways. They utilize nickel personnel. They can play bracket quarters. They can bring a lot of simulated pressures that you have to be prepared for. But yeah, just the fact that they’re adaptable and adjustable, I think you can see that. They travel the nickel to the boundary sometimes, they don’t sometimes. It’s a combination of both, so it’s a lot of different pictures that they can present.

“They get to go against tempo every single day. I think that’s one of the biggest things that obviously they present on offense. Their ability to line up — we had some successful plays on Saturday because we were able to line up fast and get the ball out before the defense was lined up. I don’t know that you can anticipate that happening in this game because they get to face that quite a bit.”

2. The Stillwater Heat

The heat has been a big talking point in the southern half of the United States to start this football season.

Turf temperatures reached north of 160 degrees in OSU’s game against Tulsa this past weekend.

For now, the forecast actually predicts it to be about 86 degrees with about 65% humidity when Saturday’s game kicks off, which is much more mild than it has been. But the other side of that coin is that it’ll be about 56 degrees in Eugene when this game kicks off in Stillwater.

Along with the increased temperatures, it’ll also feel like it’s 9 a.m. to the West Coast Ducks when the game kicks off at 11 a.m. Central on Saturday. Lanning said because of that early kick, his team is actually traveling on Thursday, a day earlier than normal.

“Just a little bit different,” Lanning said. “We’re playing this game at 9 a.m. our time. I think the heat will be something that we have to adapt to relatively quick. It hasn’t been hot up here, and it’s obviously gonna be really warm on the turf there. So, just traveling, how you hydrate, how you make sure that you’re fresh when you get down there, all those things will contribute, and we have to handle it really well.”

3. Responding from a Closer-Than-Expected Week 1

Both of this games’ coaches were asked a decent amount about response going into this game.

For Oklahoma State, that need to respond is obvious given the Cowboys’ loss in Tulsa. For Oregon, it’s just a matter that the Ducks’ 34-27 win against Boise State was closer than the experts might’ve thought.

The stats show a more controlled game than the score might. Oregon outgained the Broncos 497-274. But the kicker is that Oregon went 0-for-3 on fourth down, a similar issue that plagued the Cowboys in Tulsa, which kept Boise in the game.

“I thought the guys responded well,” Lanning said. “You see a result like that for us, ultimately there were some things that we did that were really good in the game, and then there were some things that we didn’t do well in the game, as well. And there’s individual performances that were really positive and then some that weren’t, but ultimately just came out slow.

“And give credit to a good team, too, in Boise. Boise is a good team. They always play us tough, but I thought our guys responded today, attacked what they needed to attack.”

4. Injury Updates on Two Receivers

Throwing the ball wasn’t a big issue for the Ducks against Boise State.

Quarterback Dante Moore threw for 378 and three touchdowns while completing 76% of his attempts. Then three Ducks had at least 70 receiving yards in Jeremiah McClellan (six catches for 150 yards and a touchdown), Dakorien Moore (six catches for 93 yards and a touchdown) and Evan Stewart (eight catches for 72 yards).

But Lanning was asked Monday about two receivers who didn’t suite up in UAB transfer Iverson Hooks and five-star freshman Jalen Lott.

The OSU staff will be familiar with Hooks, as he had six catches for 58 yards in North Texas’ win against UAB last season. He finished the year with 72 catches for 927 yards and seven touchdowns. When Hooks hit the portal, OSU reportedly reached out.

Lott was the No. 19 player in the 247Sports Composite ranking for the 2026 recruiting class. Out of Frisco, Texas, Lott chose Oregon over offers from LSU, Georgia, USC, Texas, Ohio State, Alabama and others.

“Jalen will be down just for a little bit,” Lanning said. “Had a minor corrective surgery on his hand. Iverson kind of tweaked his hamstring in the middle of last week, so just wasn’t able to go full strength. Think we’ll have him back this week.”