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Oregon Ducks' Dan Lanning Tops Kirk Herbstreit's Best Performing Coaches List

College GameDay's Kirk Herbstreit released his top seven peforming coaches of week seven, featuring Oregon Ducks' coach Dan Lanning sitting at the top after defeating then-ranked No. 2 Ohio State 32-31 on Saturday in Autzen Stadium.

Gabriel Duarte

Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning walks the field during warmups as the No. 3 Oregon Ducks host the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore.
Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning walks the field during warmups 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
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Oregon Ducks coach Dan Lanning has been rolling on and off the field. Not only did he lead the Ducks to arguably their biggest home win in school history when they beat Ohio State 32-31, he's led the Ducks to a 6-0 record and his team is No. 2 in the country.

ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit released his weekly list featuring the top performing coaches and after picking up the biggest win of the weekend slate, Lanning tops the list at No. 1.

Interestingly enough, Lanning's former offensive coordinator and current Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham is at No. 3 after the Sun Devils upset No. 16 Utah 27-19 in Tempe.

It's easy to see why Lanning topped the list. The Ducks and Buckeyes played in front of the largest crowd in the history at Autzen Stadium with 60,129 spectators coming out to watch the No. 2 Buckeyes take on the No. 3 Ducks. The stakes didn't get much higher, especially with former Oregon coach Chip Kelly being the offensive coordinator for Ohio State.

Not only was the game very highly-attended, but it wasone of the most viewed games across the country as the game was shown during TV prime time on NBC. The game peaking at 13.4 million viewers. According to the network, the game earned the highest ratings of a Big Ten regular season matchup held during prime time since 2008. 

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Oct 12, 2024; Eugene, Oregon, USA; Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning watches during the first half of the NCAA football game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Autzen Stadium / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Lanning knew how important the game against the Buckeyes would be, so he arranged one of the biggest recruiting weekends ever during his tenure as the Ducks head coach. Multiple five-star recruits were in attendance to check out the Ducks. Oregon's big win caused waves in the recruiting world with four-star defensive lineman Tomuhini Topui and three-star defensive lineman Viliami Moala committing to the Ducks after the game.

Immediately after the game, Lanning talked about what the win means for a program like Oregon.

“I mean, you can sleep when you die, right? You get an opportunity to do this, like the day that we got to have today. Like, how awesome is Oregon? How awesome is getting to coach at this place? Our fans, our players, those guys work so dang hard to get moments like this. And again, you might not believe me, but regardless of result, I was going to be so proud of our guys and how they competed tonight, because I know how hard they work, right? And I asked them before the game to leave it all in the field. Give me everything you got, and they did that tonight," said Lanning.

MORE: Oregon Ducks, Ohio State Buckeyes Officiating Being Called Into Question

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MORE: What Ohio State Coach Ryan Day Said After Loss to Oregon Ducks: Officiating 'Cost Us'


MORE: Did Oregon Ducks’ Dan Lanning Intentionally Commit Penalty During Ohio State Game?

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MORE: Oregon Ducks, Ohio State: Deafening Autzen Stadium Breaks Attendance Record

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Gabriel Duarte
GABRIEL DUARTE

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