An Oregon media day is just about as close to the mecca of coachspeak and clichés as you can get. It all starts with the head man, of course, and at a Dan Lanning press conference, everything is carefully orchestrated.

After all, it’s easier for everything to go according to script when you have one.

“My plan for the day is to avoid giving you guys any bulletin board equipment,” Lanning said to open his media day address in 2024.

“Montana State is the one I’m most excited about,” Lanning said a year later. “There’s your coachspeak for the day.”

That’s the tightrope act that fans have learned to embrace with Lanning, a coach so smart that he can maneuver his way out of any question, backed by innovation and talent everywhere.

In a way, Lanning’s teams embraced their coach’s moxy and thumped all but a few opponents in 2024 while still being focused on the bigger picture.

That all, of course, came to a halt in the Rose Bowl, which leads fans here — the precipice of a new season for Oregon where optimism is eternal.

Now entering his fourth year as the Ducks’ head coach, it was no surprise when Lanning balked at most individual questions, instead directing questions more toward his team as a whole — a group he believes can win a National Championship.

After all, that’s the Ducks’ goal. Not for the future, but for now.

The clichés, of course, were abundant at this year’s media day. The preseason is notorious for being the time where players have a lot to prove and are in the best shape of their lives. Still, Lanning isn’t one to let that get in the way of his messaging.

“(I’m) excited to see what questions we’re able to answer this fall camp,” Lanning said in his 2025 opening address. “I know our guys are ready to work.”

Of course, everyone is feeling optimistic this time of year, with just a few weeks remaining until the Ducks’ first game of the season.

But Lanning isn’t one to sit idly by to start addressing his team’s deficiencies.

“There’s excitement just because it’s a new group,” Lanning said. “There might be some mistakes, but they’re mistakes that are made at full speed. I know that’s going to happen with us. More than anything, I’m just ready to attack it and  gure out what we’re really great at, what we got to improve at. That’s the fun part for me — is what problems do we get to solve?”

One of those possible issues could come in the form of the Ducks’ schedule, a 12-game stretch that sees the Ducks on the road for their toughest game — a week four bout with Penn State.

Other than the showdown with the Nittany Lions, there is plenty of quality among the Big Ten, as Wisconsin, Iowa, USC and Washington are all among teams expected to improve from last season.

Oregon’s toughest three-week slate will likely fall Oct. 11-25, where home showdowns with the Badgers and Indiana Hoosiers — a College Football Playoff team from a year ago — are separated by a cross-country road matchup with Rutgers.

“There’s gonna be several teams that we didn’t play this past year,” Lanning said. “We got an unbelievable advanced scouting group, Tyler Dean and his staff. They do a ton for us as far as just hopping ahead to be able to evaluate what these teams look like.”

Aside from the schedule, the storylines throughout Oregon’s camp have been mostly the same, with a quarterback battle between redshirt sophomores Austin Novosad and Dante Moore a significant factor thus far.

“Like coach Lanning says, ‘Just one day at a time. Get that one percent better,’” Novosad said at media day. “That’s how we view it in the QB room.”

Lanning’s prowess as a leader was on display as he spoke about making the other team uncomfortable while motivating his own.

“Competition anxiety and a lack of confidence, that’s why people fail,” Lanning said. “So our goal within fall camp is, how can we create the same anxiety we have on game day? How can we make practice look as much as possible like a game?”

At Big Ten Media Day a week earlier, Lanning revealed his theme for the year, which, after an undefeated regular season and a Big Ten Championship, was to “double down.”

“Since we’re in Vegas, it seems like the right time to say it. Our theme for this team is double down,” Lanning said to Big Ten Football. “We have done an unbelievable job of building this team over time. You look at our success season to season, and as this team has grown, the process works. We’re close.”

That’ll no doubt be the goal for Lanning and co. this year, but as with everything within the Oregon stratosphere, it will take discipline, consistency and following the script their head coach has for them. “(Success is) always the same,” Lanning said. “What’s the best version of us? If we’re playing our best football, if we’re being the best that we can possibly be, then that’s something I’m excited about. The results kind of take care of themselves. What’s our goal? I mean, we have high standards. We came here to win championships.”