Dan Lanning grades Oregon football's first scrimmage 'overall good

Oregon football was inside Autzen Stadium Aug. 15 for its first intrasquad scrimmage of fall camp.

Coach Dan Lanning spoke afterwards, giving his assessment of an "overall good" scrimmage that he said lasted approximately 120 plays.

"The thing you're always hoping for as a coach in this moment is you want to test physicality, the ability to tackle and break tackles," he said. "But you also want to walk away healthy. We were able to do that today."

Here's what Lanning had to say Saturday afternoon after the Ducks ' ninth practice of training camp.

Lanning said he'll learn more about his team after watching scrimmage film

As has been his approach for years, Lanning likes to get a second, longer look at what takes place on the field before reacting to what he saw live.

He does know what he wants to see when he turns on the film.

"I told our players there's really two things we're looking for when you create a scrimmage: Are you accountable and are you capable?" the coach said. "Did you do your job when you're asked to do your job, and are you capable of doing the job we're asking you to do? If you're not, then you're gonna get limited reps. If you do, you'll continue to grow on this team. Those are the things we're gonna evaluate as we watch film."

Lanning said the coaches kept it simple Saturday, with the focus being on execution.

"Let's call stuff that we know our guys can execute, so we can figure out who's the guy that's best at tackling, whose the guy best at breaking tackles," Lanning said. "Now what we'll do is take what we have and figure out what fits our players best and then find the tweaks that we can add and remove."

Ball security and special teams need to improve, Lanning said

There were some turnovers in the scrimmage that stuck with the coach. Some were a byproduct of good defensive plays -- including a interception by safety Peyton Woodyard -- while others were not.

"There's always a combination of both," Lanning said. "Tipped balls that we have to be aggressive with -- we had a tip-ball interception today. We had balls on the ground where it's not necessarily controlled by the defense as much as it's controlled by the offense and the way they protect the ball."

The kicking game also needs to be better, Lanning said, after some shortcomings Saturday as the Ducks look to replace two-year starter Atticus Sappington.

"We tested them today," Lanning said. "We tried to make a long field goal, we didn't make a long field goal. We had some poor kicks on kickoff. We have to be able to count on those guys to have great kickoffs."

Lanning said the punters also had some problems hitting their locations or sending kicks out of bounds.

"In special teams, you get one play to be right and they have to be right," Lanning said. "They weren't all right today. ... When we do it, it has to look a certain way and I think that can level up."

Lanning saw signs of an improved pass rush

A major offseason goal for the Ducks was to upgrade their pass rush after recording just 30 sacks in 2025. Getting their entire starting defensive line back should help in that area, but it has certainly been a point of emphasis in fall camp.

Lanning liked what he saw in the scrimmage on Saturday, keeping in mind Oregon's quarterbacks were allowed to be pressured but not hit or taken to the ground.

"We got to the quarterback a couple times today," Lanning said. "I think at times that's on our quarterback to make sure that they're getting out of the pocket. ... But we've had good rush. We've done some different drill work this year that we haven't done in the past that think has improved that. We've done some different stuff schematically."

Chris Hansen covers University of Oregon football, men’s basketball, track and field, cross country and softball for The Register-Guard. You can reach him at [email protected]  and you can follow him on X @chansen_RG

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