Since he was hired in early 2022, it’s been clear that Dan Lanning likes to keep most things close to the vest and out of the media. There is nothing wrong with that approach. There is a legitimate argument that everything a head coach has to say about football should be proprietary.
However, after the Saturday game against Portland State, Lanning shared more than he typically does about how he and the rest of the coaches are examining and approaching Texas Tech, offensively and defensively. One thing Lanning mentions about Texas Tech’s offense is its quick pace.
“I mean, on offense, they’re a team that snaps as many snaps as anybody in college football, you know. You’re gonna see they’re going to be able to go really fast, really quick. They line up and a lot more stacks and bunches than any other team in college football. So you gotta be sound in how you handle those rules.”
One reason this could pose a challenge to the Ducks, is their inexperience on the defensive side of the ball, as the starting unit has largely been overhauled since last year. A high-paced offense between plays means less time to get your defense set and ready to defend both the run and the pass.
Lanning also spoke about what types of offense the Red Raiders favor and what the Ducks’ defense will need to work to stop.
“I think they had the most snaps and bunch alignments this past week of any other team in college football. Offensively that’s a big piece of it, they really have the ability to kind of do two different offenses where they are wide open, and then they get a tight end in the core and, you know, can create some run game issues and some pass game issues,” Lanning said. “They do a great job of, you know, attacking down the field vertically, but they set that up with the way that they do screens, and that quick passes some quick gains. So I think that’s a piece that shows up.”
Here, Lanning talks about Texas Tech’s use of compressed sets (formations where the skill players line up closer to the middle of the field and the offensive line) and how they use those sets to run the ball more effectively (because of the extra blockers near the O-line). He also points out that even though they use these formations a lot, they have the ability to spread out effectively. Lastly, he points out that something Oregon will need to be cognizant of is the Red Raiders’ ability to throw the ball deep downfield, and that this aspect of their game is made available through the use of screen passes and other quick throws close to the line of scrimmage.
Overall, this means the Oregon defense will need to be ready for a more diverse offensive scheme than perhaps they’re used to — a particularly diverse one compared to that of Portland State. It also means that they will always need to be wary of Tyler Shough gashing them with a deep ball over the top because it is definitely in their arsenal.
Lanning also spoke of the Red Raiders’ defense, and hinted at ways the Ducks could exploit it.
“Defensively, they’re a pressure team, you can see a lot of pressures from them, they find ways to pressure in unique ways,” Lanning said. “They do a good job of running to the ball. They play with great effort, you know, effort shows up all over the film on special teams and that’s somewhere where they’ve been really good. They’re aggressive in the return game. They’re going to try to bring the ball out, right, and they’ve been able to create some explosive returns doing that.”
The gist of that is they are aggressive defensively. They are going to blitz the QB and stack the box against the run. What that means is Bo Nix will need to be comfortable getting the ball out of his hands quickly and finding his receivers over the middle of the field. It also means the run game will likely be more successful outside the hashes as opposed to up the middle.
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