Dan Lanning took questions from the media on Monday as Georgia continued preparations for the Orange Bowl.

Coming off a tough loss against Alabama, and at a media availability, Georgia’s defensive coordinator was asked if Georgia is dealing with a “wounded pride” ahead of the Michigan game on Friday. He described the Alabama loss as a hiccup.

“Our guys are excited to compete. I mean, every time we take the field, I don’t think it matters if it’s practice and we’re doing team run against each other or if it’s game day,” Lanning said.  “Our guys want to go out there and prove their worth. I think they’ve done that week in and week out this season, and the fact that we had a hiccup doesn’t affect what we want to do going forward. Luckily for us in that game every single one of our goals still stands in front of us, and this opportunity — there’s 4 teams in the nation that get to go play right now at this level, and I think we recognize that opportunity in front of us and want to go take advantage of it.”

Lanning, who recently accepted the job as Oregon’s head coach and is balancing 2 jobs, said between virus protocols, and bowl events, Georgia hasn’t lost sight of why the Bulldogs traveled to Miami.

“You know, ultimately I think every one of our kids if you asked them would tell you that we came here for one purpose, but I’ll say this. I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for our medical staff,” Lanning said. “Ron Courson and his staff and the precautions they’ve taken to prepare our kids. I also give our players a lot of credit for how diligent they’ve been on taking proper precautions, whether it be wearing the masks through the hotel or when they’re out and about. But we came here to win a football game, and we’re excited about everything that the Orange Bowl does for our players, but there’s no secret what we came here for.”