Oregon Ducks' Dan Lanning: Internal Discipline For Traeshon Holden's Ejection

Oregon Ducks coach Dan Lanning revealed his disappointment in wide receiver Traeshon Holden after he was ejected for spitting on an Ohio State Buckeyes player. Lanning also previewed the upcoming game against the Purdue Boilermakers.

Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning and Oregon Ducks wide receiver Traeshon Holden as Holden is ejected over a spitting incident as the No. 3 Oregon Ducks host the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. / Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

EUGENE- Oregon Ducks coach Dan Lanning is fresh off a historic victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes. This win improved Oregon’s record to 6-0 and moved the Ducks up in the AP Top 25 Poll, coming in at No. 2 in the nation, behind only Texas. 

The atmosphere in Autzen Stadium was electric as fans stormed onto the field to celebrate the victory over the then No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes. 

"I'm so proud of our players. I'm so proud of our crowd. You talk about big moments, big games, this is why you come to Oregon,” Lanning told NBC’s Kathryn Tappen, surrounded by hundreds of cheering fans. “That’s a good football team, hard to stop. Our guys stopped them tonight; they scored enough, they threw enough jabs. We get the dub.” 

Now Lanning and his Ducks are done celebrating the win and have started preparing for the challenge that lies ahead. Oregon is gearing up to face an unranked opponent in Purdue. The Boilermakers are just 1-5 on the season. On paper, this should be an easy win for Oregon; however, it is important not to overlook Purdue, as an upset would be detrimental for the Ducks. 

Ahead of Oregon’s game against the Purdue Boilermakers, head coach Dan Lanning discussed the team’s performance against Ohio State, even revealing that the 12-man penalty might have been intentional. Lanning also previewed Oregon’s upcoming matchup against the Boilermakers. 

Lanning's opening statement:

"All right, turn around a short week, obviously a really exciting one for us this past weekend. Again, getting to play an elite opponent and getting to experience, you know, Autzen Stadium, like everyone should get to experience, it was really special. Proud of our players, certainly, a lot of moments going back and evaluating the game that we can clean up and make better. That being said, proud of the way our guys performed, and now trying to get turned around really quickly and move on to Purdue in a short week." 

Lanning on Traeshon Holden's ejection:  

"Yeah, I mean, one, extremely disappointed with his actions within the game, you know, there's absolutely zero place for that in our program, zero place for that in football. I reached out to coach Day, you know, expressed my frustration in that situation. I know Traeshon's extremely apologetic. He's embarrassed. He realizes how wrong he was in that moment. And we will handle some things internally. There is some discipline that exists there, but I'm going to leave that for us internally to handle and communicate." 

Lanning on sophomore wide receiver Justius Lowe:  

"I think Justius has continued to prove his ability to help us as a team. When Justius is healthy, he can be a really, really special player, and he's been healthy lately. I'm excited for how his role will continue to grow in our offense, as well as some other guys that I think will get opportunities to see their role grow in our offense. But Justius has done a good job and proud of his performance so far this year." 

Lanning on the status of Jordan Burch:  

"Yeah, again, continue to evaluate it for him. We want to do what's best for him. You know, I do anticipate us being able to use Jordan again, but I don't know that that'll be this week. I don't know that it won't. So we'll just keep evaluating that and see what it looks like." 

Lanning on keeping momentum going into the Purdue match up:  

“The key is for us, is our process shouldn't change. And again, every week, we talk about it, regardless of who you're playing. You know, for us, we're always playing Oregon and how we can improve and get better. I think our guys are certainly aware of other situations in college football. It's what makes this sport so great and hard, so that you got to go out there and earn it every Saturday, every weekend. Friday this week, and that starts with your preparation during the week." 

Lanning on Purdue's Offense:  

"Well, they certainly added some new wrinkles this past game. I know Coach Walters is a phenomenal coach and does a really good job, but what they've been able to do and how they were able to utilize Ryan Browne in the run game created a lot of different issues. And when there's a coaching change, you're trying to evaluate, okay, who you're going to see, what's going to carry over from the previous offense, what's different and new now. So that's part of our job to kind of figure that out, but they certainly present some new challenges and will make it tough for us on Friday." 

Lanning on Purdue quarterback Ryan Browne 

“He's a good quarterback. You know a really impressive quarterback. Young guy, you know, had good command of the system and what they were trying to accomplish. So definitely create some challenges." 

Lanning on whether the 12-man penalty was intentional:  

"It wasn't one on one. We actually had a safety on top, so it's called dog, is what he played. But (Jabbar Muhammad) wasn't in extremely tight coverage, but he was in dog coverage where he had safety on top of him, and there was a time out before that, we spent an inordinate amount of time on situations. There are some situations that don't show up very often in college football, but this is one that, obviously, was something that we had worked on. So, you could see the result." 

Lanning on going back to practice after the win over Ohio State:  

"I mean, football is fun, football is exciting. So, I don't think it's hard for us to get back and get to work, but you do have to squeeze a lot of stuff in a short amount of time. And that's the challenge of making sure you're still really consistent and thorough with what matters, not putting too much on your players in a short window. But it's not hard to get excited about going to play football." 

Lanning on Evan Stewart's performance against Ohio State:  

"I mean, I think I said it after the game, that sometimes you don't know when your number's gonna be called. Not every play is designed to go to just one person. But I think Evan did a great job of taking advantage of the opportunities when the ball did get put in his direction, and he had opportunities to go make plays on the ball. There's been some other moments this year where he probably could have had those opportunities, and maybe the ball just didn't go his way. So he took advantage of those opportunities, and I certainly expect him to do that in the future." 

Lanning on Defensive Lineman Jaeden Moore:  

"In practice, Jaeden has always been one of the hardest guys for us to block. He does a really good job in pass rush situations for us. And he's earned that opportunity with the way that he's executed practice. So seeing that and having guys being down on a couple guys in certain roles, I think that grew his role, and he's somebody can take advantage of that." 

Lanning on the Illegal man downfield penalty against Ohio State:  

"We sent it in, and they told us they got it wrong. So, you know, in the game, they told us they got it right." 

Lanning on if there is a sense of excitement from the team about traveling to Purdue:  

"I mean, this is certainly a venue I haven't been to before. I'm sure our players might feel the same way, but for us, it's always about focusing on the week that we're in. So this is an exciting one for us, getting an opportunity again to play on a Friday night, the prime-time window, at a place that we haven't been." 

Lanning on the status of Kyler Kasper:  

"Yeah, I don't know the timeline right now. And Kyler, it might be hard to see him back this year but I won't put limitations on him and his ability to get back." 

Lanning on Purdue’s Kydran Jenkins and Dillon Thieneman: 

"I mean, obviously, 31 (Thieneman) is a guy that can play sideline to sideline. They play their safety a little deeper than some teams traditionally, allows him to really play, almost like a flat foot read player back there that can see the ball and react to the ball. And he's a really talented player who does a great job of doing that, and finds himself around the ball consistently. 4 (Jenkins) does a great job inside at backer, and then at times, even on the edge, they move them around quite a bit to create matchups. So they do a good job. It's hard to know exactly what they're in. They're probably one of the better defenses at disguising their coverage and what that looks like. So, it definitely presents some challenges there." 

Lanning on Nikko Reed: 

“I think Nikko's grown a ton. I think he went out there and competed his tail off on Saturday with one of the biggest challenges that he's been able to face. And you know, there's moments there that he won and there's moments that he didn't win, but what you see is a guy that's grown and gotten better and better, that we certainly have a level of confidence in, as well as a lot of those other guys in the secondary that are doing a good job." 

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