EUGENE – The Oregon Ducks avoided their fourth loss of the season and got their offense rolling in a big way in a 34-26 win over the No. 20 Northwestern Wildcats.

While the offense put its most points on the board since beating USC 41-27 on Sept. 26, injury concerns certainly hovered over the Ducks. Receiver Dakorien Moore put on his best statistic performance at Oregon, before heading off the field late in the fourth-quarter after getting crunched on a play.

“It seems like Dakorien’s gonna be good,” coach Dan Lanning said postgame. “He just did a really good shot on the on the return. But in a little bit of pain, but I think that's not gonna be anything impactful for him. He told me when he was lying down the ground, ‘I’m ready for the next play.’”

“I'm told him, ‘Well, you have to come out for one, at least.’ So I think he's gonna be in good shape,” Lanning said.

Moore finished with 128 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Lanning went on during his answer to respond to a question about quarterback Dylan Raiola’s decision on the final first down.

“And then yeah, you called it. A lot of times in four-minute situations, people play loose or really play tight, right? You're like, okay, we can keep the clock running. Make them use their time out to run the ball,” he said.

“Instead, okay, we're gonna call naked here. It's either it's wide open or you’re hitting the guy right with ball, or you run,” Lanning added. “He made a big play, but I don’t know if that was that was wide open. open. It played out a little differently than we thought it would, but players make plays.”

“We’ll coach the moment. He told me as soon as he came off the field, ‘I owe you one.’ I know that was a little bit careless, but don’t you love that a little bit as a coach?”

Lanning spent his press conference addressing the improved confidence in this game, freshman running back Brandon Smith’s big performance and the overall growth of the team.

Everything Dan Lanning Said After Northwestern

Opening Statement:

“Obviously, an exciting game against a really good opponent. We thought Northwestern was really well coached and does an unbelievable job coming in, and there was evidence of that today by the way they operate. Their quarterback play is really special.”

“He’s a tough guy on the ground. They play tough in the run game on defense, and I kept telling our players it was really going to be about who could play harder for longer. I felt like that really showed up today.”

“They had a lot of success on third down in the first half. We were able to stop some of their first and second-down game plan. They obviously hit the big explosive where they had a better answer than us. I thought our coaches made really good adjustments.  Offensively, I felt like the rhythm that we've been searching for showed up in big moments.”

“I thought our quarterback played with a lot of confidence and was able to execute in big moments. And a lot of guys had to step up. That maybe didn't get as many reps in practice, but had to show up with Jordon going down and Dierre being a little bit banged up.”

“Saw Brandon Smith. Dink being able to show up and make some big plays for us in moments. So, it's tough to win games like that. I said earlier in the week we asked our players do a lot of things that men can't do, and we're down by two scores a lot of that game.”

“There's a lot of people that pulled up in that moment. There was zero quits from our guys. They just kept feeling like it was one more play they had to go make, and we knew like it was every possession really mattered in the first half. They started with the ball. We knew in the second half we were going to start with the ball.”

“It didn't start off the way we wanted to in the second half, but our defense went out there and put out the fire. Their field goal kicker was outstanding today, which made it a real challenge. Like he kicked the ball extremely well, but I thought our defense did a good job of not folding down in the red area and making sure we were able to keep him out of touchdown situations and force field goals.”

“And then it was all about one more play. And I thought we played the third down much better in the second half. Their quarterback is hard. When you designate a hat to go spy him and take him away, then you lose a little bit of the edge pressure that you can generate. You can't really do both. Zach actually asked that question earlier in the week, and we had to have kind of multiple game plans for both.”

“And I thought we executed that much better in the second half when we were able to take away some of their success on third down, but it's a little bit of robbing Peter to pay Paul. You look at playing that game, and it was about kind of who guessed right.”

“They guessed right a little bit more in the first half, but we guessed right a little bit more in the second half. So overall, great performance. Our fans were awesome. Certainly, feels great to do a walk away with a victory, and it was tight the entire game. But I thought our guys just did a little bit more.”

Generating Offensive Rhythm at the End of the First Half:

“Yeah, I think that's not having huddling up every play I think helped certainly. I think it demanded a little bit more of our players, which they are certainly capable of. And then, like I said, this game was about letting it hang. We didn't see it, but we called it a halfback pass.”

“We called it reverse, right? We took a shot. We pushed the ball down the field to do a fade down there in the red area. He said, ‘Let's go let our guy win.’ We went for it on fourth-and-two down there at the two-yard line. You know, our mindset was, hey, we're either going to punch this in, or they're gonna have to drive 99 yards, bring it back, and obviously we were able to punch it in, and that was a big, big, big play in that game.”

“And I thought Jay (Johnson) did a great job of having a feel for the game as well. That play he scored on there on 42. That was when he felt like calling earlier in that sequence. He felt like calling it on second down, and we probably all talked him out of it, so great execution by him coming back and trusting his gut. But that's a whole offensive performance and a whole defensive performance.”

“We talked about putting all three phases together, and in moments we were all really, really good today. So, I felt like that's the closest we've been to a complete performance. That being said, there's a lot of things that we can still do a lot better.”

“It's one of the hardest rushing attacks to really prepare for and schematically. I said it all week it's like you're playing, preparing for three different teams, and I thought our guys adjusted and identified what team we were getting, kind of based on each look once we settled in there.”

Northwestern Quarterback Aidan Chiles’ Success Out of the Pocket:

“Yeah, there certainly was. I mean, we were trying to designate a guy to be responsible for him, and again, he can go either direction on a lot of those plays. So, they have a big play-action boot game, and it's tough when you're not bringing edges for him not to be able to break out of the pocket when they're running those.”

“So you like to bring edge pressure. But then there were moments where he's going opposite the pressure and able to take that away. There's a couple plays I think you watch it, you're like, man, we had a guy there. We had to make that play. And what I'm proud of is those guys. Our guys were aggressive in those moments.”

“But again, who's going to blast on a wide receiver just a little bit longer? He does a great job of keeping his eyes downfield. He did a great job being able to execute with his legs in the game. I know he gained over 100 yards, so we have a lot to improve there ultimately. But we were also able to kind of settle in then the second half and have a better plan for it.”

Running Back Brandon Smith Stepping Up Amid Injuries:

“Yeah, I mean, one that's a really physical team that we just played, right? And a couple of our guys got banged up just within the play of the game, and also want to acknowledge, I shared a moment there where I think everybody in the stadium felt something similar when you saw Jon Jon Stevens go down for them.”

“Your sitting there thinking, ‘Man, I pray this kid’s okay. I hope he's going to be all right.’ To see him get up and go walk off was great. But that's just evidence of how physical this game was, right? And what's tough, we talk about guys like Brandon or Dink is those guys that are getting those third and fourth reps. Those are a lot of reps that they execute today that they didn't get in practice.”

“They had to get the mental rep right and be able to execute the mental rep, and they did an outstanding job of that. Our coaches did a good job of coaching on the sideline to make them be able to have a performance like that. And every big run is going to involve somebody stranded a little bit harder for a big block.”

“I saw a lot of those runs today where our wideouts go down the field battling first to get another block or a lineman was chasing the ball, and that was just a total positive.”

Dakorien Moore’s Growth On And Off the Field:

“Dakorien has grown into a guy that really wants to be coached, and it's really fun and refreshing to go out there. He wants the pressure, he wants it on his back. I know he wishes to have that fumble back. I know he's going to be really critical himself, and I'm a I'm a challenge our coach of the week and coach that better, our ball security and what that looks like.”

“But to see in big moments, that guy's straining really hard. When he practices the way he's capable of he can have really big games. Obviously had a big game today. Was certainly a difference maker for us. He was dynamic.”

“And did a great job fielding the ball in the return game. I don't think people realize how hard that is. You got a lot of guys running down your face. He was able to change things for us in the return game and handle getting the ball obviously, in some tough moments and catching the ball.”

“I thought the wideouts attacked the ball doing well today. And then again, I think when I turn on this film, I’ll see those guys showing up in the run game with how they blocked and how they strained. I’m really proud of his growth. I know he only wants to get better, and I think there's a lot of guys in that category on our team.”

If Receiver Messiah Hampton’s Arrest is What Changed His Availability:

“I can't pretend to know everything about the situation. You have to operate with the information that you have. And again, we take all those matters real seriously. But I have to evaluate what we have. There was some changes in information that were there.”

Brandon Smith Capitalizing on His Opportunity:

“That's all you wanted to coach is a guy that not necessarily begging for their opportunity, but ready when their opportunity comes. I think Brandon's been that for us throughout this year. His role, he's grown with this team. He's obviously very capable.”

“And I'm excited about what he was able. Yeah, I think certainly we've got a group that we feel confident rolling with. I think there's still some moments. We had a chance to almost hit the game away there at the end, and we didn't get the stops that we needed or get the yards that we needed there.”

“Kind of, it became a situation where you're not completely backed up, but you can backed up because of where we played a couple of seasons plays. You got to evaluate what that looks like, but overall, I thought they did a good job.”