“There was certainly some stuff in the bag that we didn’t use today,” head coach Dan Lanning said after his team’s domination of the Montana State Bobcats in Week 1.

Much of the talk going into the game drew comparisons to the season opener in 2024. In that game, the Ducks came out slow and gritted their way to a 24-14 victory over the University of Idaho Vandals. Aside from MSU and Idaho both being high-quality FCS opponents, the two matchups featured few similarities.

In a wire-to-wire rout of the Bobcats, the Ducks didn’t really have to get into some of the trickier stuff in the playbook, nor overextend any individual player by giving them too many unnecessary snaps. 

“I think that was a big piece of it: realizing we call it copycats in our world,” Lanning said. “Things that you’ve given up in the past, being prepared for those in the future and I thought we had good plans for some of those. Ultimately, I thought our volume was smaller on both sides of the ball.”

The team’s plan to keep everything close to their chest can continue for another week, at least, after being able to rotate the lineup significantly throughout the opening game. Oregon didn’t put much on display for opponents down the line, which will work in its advantage, as each piece of film that teams can get is incredibly valuable. 

Lanning preaches, above all else, that preparation is the key to success every week, which requires a unique amount of game-simulation in practice. Nowhere in the first contest of the year was that more exemplified than in Oregon’s one-minute drill at the end of the first half. 

With just over a minute left, the Ducks had forced a Montana State three-and-out while up 31-3. Instead of letting the clock run out, however, Lanning decided to use two of his three timeouts to ensure Oregon had a chance to tack on another touchdown before the first half came to a close. 

The Ducks got the ball and gained 67 yards on six plays that took exactly a minute of game time. The team’s quarterback Dante Moore is the focal point of this emphasis toward being prepared. When asked about this drive, Moore mentioned how they had run through that situation in practice many times and knew exactly what to do when the time came. 

“You practice it so much that it’s kind of the same situation: one timeout, one minute and you have to drive down the field,” Moore said. “I feel like we repped it so many times and… it’s great when you practice something so much and then when it comes time to do it in the game and we succeed.”

Being prepared for anything an opposing team has in its arsenal is not exclusive to the offense either. 

Earlier in the week, Lanning mentioned the fact that Montana State switched both of its coordinators in the offseason, which meant there wasn’t all that much readily available information on what the Bobcats would run during the game. 

“We don’t know what that adversity (in game) will look like, so I prepare for all of it, for every one of those situations. We’re not saying we want to go create adversity, but we know adversity will happen,” Lanning said after a midweek practice. 

When it came down to it, however, the Bobcats favored the ground game offensively, which meant that the Ducks had that as a major focus in preparation. The only caveat was that the coaches were new, so Oregon made sure to prepare for everything. 

Defensive lineman A’Mauri Washington, known for his outstanding speed even at his size of 6’3” and 330 pounds, totaled five tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. Washington noted the team’s preparation as a major factor in his manhandling of the Bobcats’ front five. 

“We looked at that same play that (Montana State) ran and I felt like we talked about it, we had the right calls to fit right into it and I felt like I just needed to execute what I was gonna do and the play was gonna come to me,” Washington said about one of his tackles for loss. 

The culture around the team is one of competition as well, which creates the most effective preparation given the amount of “best-on-best” reps that players can get in practice. Multiple players and coaches have discussed the “us vs. us” mentality that is collectively held amongst the locker room. 

Lanning also remained quiet publicly about any of the position battles that happened during fall camp, which meant that there was no information available about who was going to start at each position. That type of feeling seemingly bled into the team, as senior running back Noah Whittington mentioned many didn’t expect him to be the starting back after Oregon recruited Tulane transfer Makhi Hughes.

“I like competition regardless and I’ve been competing since I got here, so (Hughes’ addition) pumped me up,” Whittington said. 

The running back room is a great example of the preparedness of this team, as the Ducks featured seven different running backs in their Week 1 win. No matter who played, they were ready and able to be effective. 

Lanning mentioned that this depth in all positions will come into play later in the season when Oregon will have more of a need for fresh legs, so keeping the entire team prepared remains important. 

As the season gets into its meat and potatoes, the Ducks’ ability to simulate game situations in practice and focus on being prepared for any adversity can certainly become a considerable advantage for Lanning and his team.