Before the 2023 college football season began for the No. 11 Oregon Ducks, a pair of very notable alums — Sabrina Ionescu and Hroniss Grasu — gifted the team with custom pairs of noise-canceling Beats headphones, decked out in green and yellow with the classic Oregon wings on the sides.
Those headphones will be put to good use in Eugene this week. There is bound to be a lot of noise to block out.
After a mundane non-conference schedule to open up the season, Dan Lanning and the Ducks are welcoming the circus to town this weekend. That circus will come in the form of Deion ‘Prime Time’ Sanders and the No. 19 ranked Colorado Buffaloes.
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If you aren’t aware of what Sanders has been doing in Boulder over the past few months, then you’ve been living under a rock. It’s a hype train that has consisted of non-competitive games with 8-plus million viewers, sidelines that look like a red carpet for a movie premiere, and enough ESPN and FOX airtime to convince you that Sanders has eventual plans to run for public office.
That entire dog and pony show is coming to Eugene this weekend as the Buffs try to keep things rolling and continue their storybook start to a season.
No matter, the Ducks are prepared. They’re ready for the noise. They’ve got a good idea about what’s coming their way. They’ve got their Beats, courtesy of Sabrina and Hroniss.
“Play the game, not the occasion,” Dan Lanning said on Saturday when asked to look ahead to the soundwaves already traveling north from Colorado. “Play the game, not the occasion. They have homecoming as well, and you get the homecoming dance and you have the parade. But guess what? Everybody cares about football game. That’s what we’re gonna do — go play football. No offense to the parade.”
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To be fair, the parade is shaping up to be quite spectacular. Over the next 24 to 48 to 72 hours, we will certainly get some juicy quotes from both Deion Sanders and his son, Shedeur Sanders. There’s about a 1000% chance that Lanning’s comments from Oregon media day — “I’m trying to remember what they’ve won. Do you remember?” — will be brought up, and new bulletin board material will likely arise as we travel through the week as well.
That’s part of the shtick with Prime Time and the Buffs. Sanders has been able to capture the attention and adoration of the college football world for a reason — he’s brash, confident, charismatic, and objectively hilarious. Whether it’s encouraging members of the existing Colorado team to transfer out because he has “Louis Vuitton” caliber players coming with him via the portal, or unabashedly calling out media members for doubting him early in the season, Coach Prime has routinely been a fixture of the sports news cycle over the past year.
“We ain’t hard to find,” he will repeatedly remind anyone who will listen.
Will the Ducks be listening to all of that noise this week, though? It’s unlikely. They know better than that.
“It starts with just putting our head down and going to work,” QB Bo Nix said after the game. “It’s just eliminating the chatter, eliminating the noise, and doing our best as a team to eliminate it overall. Then when it’s time to work, keep the main thing the main thing and just go back to work for ourselves and correct ourselves.”
Nix is familiar with the noise. He dealt with it for years at Auburn, both good and bad, and has found a way to compartmentalize everything as it comes throughout his time in college football. The same can’t be said yet for other members of this young Oregon team, though. That’s no shame on them — they haven’t had to deal with it this early on in their careers.
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That’s where older players in the locker room will be able to provide some assistance. It will be on veterans to set the example.
“Put your head down and work,” EDGE Jordan Burch said. “You know, it’s just the next game and that’s how we’ll look forward to it.”
“We’ve just got to keep the main thing the main thing,” said WR Traeshon Holden. “They’re just another opponent. We’re not going against Colorado. This is just another week for us to prepare and focus on being a better team than we were a week before.”
“We’re here to play a game, we’re not here to look at all of the outside noise,” said Jackson Powers-Johnson. “Our coaches do a great job of teaching us to keep the main thing the main thing and just focus on the Ducks.
It’s funny how quickly a team starts to sound like its coach in interviews, isn’t it?
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Since coming to Eugene, Dan Lanning has been largely buttoned up in front of media members. Every now and again, he will crack a joke and give you a wry smile, but for the most part, he is a cut-and-dry coach-speak spouter who leaves a lot left to be said. Earlier this year, he made a crack about Colorado’s past success. Does he regret it? Probably not, it was a true statement. Will he give the Buffs any more bulletin board material in the coming days? I wouldn’t put money against it, but I also won’t be surprised to see him take the high road.
Meanwhile, in Boulder, I would be shocked to see Coach Prime and the Buffs go the next 72 hours without making headlines in some sort of fashion. Colorado is finally playing a certified team that has an earned ranking in the top 25. That’s not a criticism, but rather an understanding of the reality we live in. Sanders is a dog who likes to bark, and so far this year, he’s been able to back up that bark with a bit of bite. It will be no surprise to hear those barks grow louder as the Buffs travel up to Eugene for a weekend stay.
No matter for the Ducks. They’ve got their noise-canceling headphones ready to go.
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