Dan Lanning discusses finally beating Alabama as Georgia assistant, facing UGA to open 2022 season
Dan Lanning was on the Georgia coaching staff for the Bulldogs’ last 4 battles with Alabama. Lanning, a Crimson Tide graduate assistant in 2015, joined the UGA staff in 2018 and remained through the 2021 season and postseason after taking the Oregon head coaching job on Dec. 11.
During Friday’s Pac-12 Media Days, Lanning was asked about his biggest takeaway from finally beating Alabama in the national championship game and how he applies that to coaching the Ducks.
“Obviously, I’ve had great experience in the last several years of my coaching career,” Lanning told reporters. “I spend very little time talking about the past. I’m really focused on the future. The one thing I’ll say about that game, the national championship game, is our ability to adapt and change. You have to go back, when you lose to an opponent, it gives you an opportunity to really reassess yourself.
“When I talk about our theme for this season being growth, I think that’s a big part of it. Being in a growth mindset means you have to learn from successes and failures, right? We talked about it at the program I was at before. We’d go to the doctor after a win on Monday morning. We’re going to do the same thing here at Oregon. We have to figure out what we can get better at. Hopefully, you go to the doctor before you get sick. That’s certainly the goal for us.”
In his first game with Oregon, Lanning will be coaching against Georgia.
“Get to play a really familiar opponent in Georgia in a neutral-site game in Atlanta. Certainly excited about going back and seeing some familiar faces going there, getting to compete against a mentor and a friend in Kirby Smart,” Lanning said during his press conference.
Though Lanning facing his former team is the lead storyline, he downplayed its impact.
“Honestly, we haven’t spent a ton of focus on game one,” Lanning said. “I know our players are certainly excited to be on a national stage early and get to play obviously an elite opponent in Georgia that we’re really familiar with. Guess what, they’re also familiar with me.
“That being said, we’re really focused on right now. You can’t play game one until you have practice one, right? That’s our next approach.”
Gonna be some Jawga peoples in melt down if Oregon beats Jawga.
What mode is al&bubba gonna be in if Texas takes y’all to the woodshed?????
Negan
Just inESPN greatest college defenses of all time. Jawga didn’t even make the top ten. For you poor Jawga peoples. You must have a ESPN+ account to review this great and accurate article.
2. 2016 Alabama
1. 2017 Alabama
Head coach: Nick Saban
Scoring defense: 13.0 and 11.9 PPG, respectively
Record: 14-1 and 13-1 (second and first in the AP poll)
ESPN???? I see why you’re so confused about football.
^^^
Sorry. No Jawga in the top ten. ESPN the leader is sports articles says.
19. 2019 Georgia
18. 2020 Georgia
17. 2021 Georgia
Head coach: Kirby Smart
Scoring defense: 12.6, 20.0 and 10.2 PPG, respectively
Record: 12-2, 8-2 and 14-1
Remind me again, who is the reigning National Champion?
you mean the same the espn who publishes the FPI index which recognized teams like aub and lsu in the top 15 all season long last year.
if last year’s uga defense didn’t at least register as a top 10 all-time defense for you….i’ve got news for you….you a fool.
just look at what each opposing team scored for the season and what they were able to get against uga. now further look into the fact that uga played 4 games against teams which finished in the top 15 in scoring offense last year. then, ask for your money back from espn and your poorly spent money on their premium package.
Phille Boy. Don’t get mad son. If you don’t like ESPN that is ok. Rub some salve on your butt hurt and be a man.
I doubt that the Horns will be ready. Too much speed on D and a QB who can scan the field and work to find the open man. Bama 38-10.
If Oregon was to beat UGA we’ll start whining and complaining about
THE TRUF
Listen gump, you follow me all over the SDS blogs so I have read some of your comments, serious question, did you graduate high school?
33-18 gump chump
TDOW. Let me help you boy. The comments section of SDS are for comments. Study that comment, ole Luv gonna quiz you later son.
Y’all need to worry about your own game against Utah State .
I need run herd you Jawga critters. Make sure you are informed. You folks are a very low intelligence fan base.
I was joking about Utah State, although it’d be hilarious if you lost. I think if Bama played Utah State 33 times you’d win at least 18 times.
Doubt that will happen. Laning has been here and so has Nix but the others will not be ready for SEC football.
Why does SDS misplace some posts? And STILL no like button.
Because it was founded by and is run by Gaturds. There’s your answer.
More than likely, it’s user error. You may have clicked on one post and then decided not to comment. You go further down the page and click to comment, it puts the comment where you were going to post. If you decided not to comment, you have to refresh the page. I shouldn’t call it user error. More of a design flaw. Happens to everyone eventually.
A lot of sites have become “kinder & gentler” sites that do not want any major disagreements on screen. Some posts just disappear into a giant hole, never to surface again.
This could not have worked out better for Lanning. He gets a national stage where he can’t lose. If Georgia wins, it was expected. If Oregon wins, Lanning will be the hottest story in the country.
Matching up players, it doesn’t look like this should be a close game. But I love the storyline.
You think Jawga gonna get beat that bad?
Worse than 33 to 18? Geez I hope not. That was embarrassing.
I admit. You Jawga critters are in the midst of a one year dynasty.
Well you got beat worse than 33-18 last season…
Good point. Lanning is definitely in a win-win.
“Neutral site game.” That’s pretty funny.
Like the WLOCP
No, not really. That stadium is half and half.
Until halftime (: