College Football

Dan Lanning gave a fiery speech about Colorado, then Oregon loudly backed it up

Updated Sep. 23, 2023 7:03 p.m. ET

Dan Lanning made it clear to his No. 10 Oregon team that No. 19 Colorado's attention-grabbing undefeated season would end Saturday in Eugene.

The message was received.

Prior to taking the field for Saturday's game, the Oregon coach took aim at Colorado and the storylines that have surrounded it since Deion Sanders' arrival.

"Rooted in substance, not flash, rooted in substance," Lanning began. "Today, we talk with our pads. … You talk with your helmet, alright? Every moment.

"The Cinderella story is over, man. They're fighting for clicks; we're fighting for wins. There's a difference, right? There's a difference, right? This game isn't going to be played in Hollywood, right? It's going to be played on grass, right? It's going to be played on the grass."

Oregon preceded to have a nearly perfect first half following Lanning's speech, going into halftime leading 35-0 before winning 42-6.

The Ducks scored on the opening drive before forcing Colorado to go three-and-out. They added another score on the following drive to make it 13-0. After forcing Colorado to punt again, it appeared that Oregon was finally slowing down.

That wasn't the case. On fourth-and-4 from its own 17-yard line, Lanning's team called for a fake, with Casey Rogers getting the direct snap and running 18 yards for the first down. Oregon continued to march down the field on that drive before Bo Nix found Troy Franklin for a 16-yard touchdown pass, adding a 2-point conversion to give it a 21-0 lead in the early minutes of the second quarter.

Oregon's only blemish came on its next drive, when Nix threw an interception. But Oregon's defense swiftly got Colorado off the field, sacking Shedeur Sanders on back-to-back plays for a combined 23-yard loss.

Nix led Oregon to two more touchdown drives in the final three minutes of the half, giving Oregon five scores in six possessions. The star quarterback completed 22 of 24 passes for 217 yards, three touchdowns and an interception to go with nine rushing yards and a rushing score in the game's first 30 minutes. Oregon's defense added four sacks.

In addition to Lanning's speech, Oregon appeared to have some extra material to help build a motivational edge in the hours leading up to Saturday's tilt. Several Colorado players made their way to the midfield logo at Autzen Stadium, with some of the players appearing to step over the "O" and one player appearing to stomp his feet on the logo.

As his team headed to the locker room going into the break, Lanning said his team wasn't done yet.

"We were composed," Lanning told the ABC broadcast. "We were composed. We executed at a really high level. But we're not done yet. We're not satisfied.

"I hope all of those people that have been watching every week are watching this week."

While Oregon only scored once in the second half, its lone touchdown came on a fourth-down play, running the ball up the middle for a 1-yard touchdown run to go up, 42-0. The Ducks also went for it on fourth down again late in the third quarter, but weren't able to score from the 5-yard line.

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