‘Ducks vs. Them’ is up for an Emmy. Well earned and well deserved.
Oregon Duck fans knew all along that the video recaps that they were watching each week throughout the 2023 college football season were special. Now the award circuit is starting to learn as well.
On Friday, the nominees for the 2023 Northwest Emmys were released, and Scott Anderson, the Senior Associate Director of the Oregon Athletic’s video team, was nominated for Best Sports Program — Post-Produced or Edited.
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‘Ducks vs. Them’ is up against a video series from Pac-12 Networks, and one from the Portland Trailblazers.
Over the past year, all of the ‘Ducks vs. Them’ videos garnered more than 57 millions views across Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Tik Tok, with the recap of Oregon’s Week 4 win over the Colorado Buffaloes far and away getting the biggest number, with more than 43 million views.
Oregon’s weekly cinematic videos give the fanbase a unique view into what goes into winning on Saturday.
Oregon has been inventive for quite some time, but a new wrinkle to the next generation of promoting the program has been in place this season.
The cinematic videos titled “Oregon vs. Them” show some game highlights, inspirational speeches to the team and a glimpse into the weekly preparation for the upcoming game.
They’ve become popular among the fanbase on YouTube. The video that came out that highlighted the 35-6 win at Utah, has about 43,000 views, while the Week 4 video vs. Colorado got over 23.2 million views on social media.
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While that exposure is great for the program, from a coach’s standpoint, you also have to be careful about what you are willing to share from behind closed doors.
This is a balance that head coach Dan Lanning has had to strike up during the season, weighing what he does and does not want to be included in the recaps.
“I get to see them before they get released and, every once in a while we’ll make some edits,” Lanning said. “But I think it’s good for everyone to be able to see the work that our players put in and the preparation that goes into success. I think it provides a great glimpse of all the work that does go into your 60-minute game. There’s so much more than just obviously those 60 minutes (on the field). So our video staff has done an unbelievable job capturing some great content.”
In the latest iterations of the recaps, we’ve seen coaches’ headset audio from during the game be included, giving us a look at real-time calls from the sideline, and coaches talking to their players during the game.
The videos, which run about six to eight minutes each, also show the players’ commitment and study time they put in for each game. For example, in one video, Lanning told the team that quarterback Bo Nix wrote down, by hand, all 125 offensive plays that were in the game plan for that particular week.
“Really, the other piece that’s fun for me with those is it gets to highlight the great people in our program. Not me, the players, the coaches, the video staff,” Lanning said. “Just everybody who touches our program makes such a great impact. I think it tells a great story about our team and each week and how each week is unique and different.”
It’s obvious the impact that the videos have had on the recruiting world, giving a chance to allow prospects to get a deep look at the inner workings of the program. It also has gone a long way with fans, who feel as involved in the program as they ever have.
