Oregon head coach Dan Lanning took shots at the “Hollywood” Colorado football program for “fighting for clicks” and not wins, but Oregon Live’s Bill Oram liked the rant despite it being intellectually dishonest.
https://twitter.com/espn/status/1705686672661258556
“Critics were quick to point to the irony of the head coach at Oregon claiming to be ‘rooted in substance, not flash,'” Oram prefaced before saying, “How many billboards is Bo Nix on? How many uniform combos? But getting bogged down in that inconsistency distracts from the point. Pregame speeches aren’t required to be intellectually honest. They just have to be effective. And this speech was the flash.”
Lanning certainly didn’t lie at any point, but Oram pointing out the promotional blitz for Bo Nix and Oregon’s partnership with Nike, and the numerous uniforms released year after year, shows that the Ducks HC had no problems being a tad hypocritical to fire up his troops. After a 42-6 rout of the Buffs, you can consider those troops properly fired up.
Oregon head coach Dan Lanning respectful to Colorado football following win
Though Lanning was intensely oppositional to Coach Prime and his program ahead of his Ducks’ Week 4 matchup against Colorado football on September 23, he has been nothing but respectful since; acknowledging Deion Sanders’s impact on the sport and how it helped Lanning personally, but assuring everyone that the pregame ferocity wasn’t something reserved for just the first-year Buffs HC.
“I’m also grateful and can clearly acknowledge the attention that we got this Saturday, in large part, was due to Deion and what he’s doing to college football,” Lanning prefaced before saying, “If anybody can’t see what he’s done for college football and how he’s bringing excitement to college football, you’re crazy. I said that last week as well. He’s done a lot for the game. He’s building something over there. I think that’s really, really clear. There’s no secret there. But it wouldn’t matter if I was playing my 10-year old son on the other sideline. I’m going to do everything I can to win.”
With CU Big 12-bound and Oregon set to join the Big Ten, this interconference rivalry officially comes to a close. As long as Lanning and Sanders are still coaching in Eugene and Boulder, respectively, though, there should be an appetite for a rematch; even if the first matchup wasn’t exactly competitive.