Dan Lanning Says He’s Impressed With Jonathan Smith’s Beavers Ahead of Final Pac-12 Civil War

By 750 THE GAME STAFF

The Civil War is here and it may be the final one. That remains to be seen, but the Ducks and the Beavers have a lot on the line in the 2023 version of the Rivalry game.

The Ducks need a win so they still have a chance of making the CFP and getting the rematch they want against Washington in Las Vegas for the Pac-12 Championship game.

The Beavers would love nothing more then to ruin the Ducks final chance at a Pac-12 title in the conference’s history. A win for Oregon State would be the exclamation point on the final Pac-12 season.

This is a matchup of  two of the best coaches in the Pac-12 right now in Dan Lanning and Jonathan Smith. Lanning was asked at his Monday press conference about Jonathan Smith and Lanning respects what Smith has done with the Oregon State program and knows that the Beavers do it their way.

“I’ve always been very impressed with Jonathan,” Lanning said. “I just think that his teams are always playing really good football at the end of the season. They’re always tough teams. They can win in a variety of ways, but they do it their way. It’s certainly unique to them. There’s not a lot other people that play that same brand of football. And his teams are hard-nosed, tough kids. They do a really good job.”

In last year’s contest the Beavers ended the game by running the football on the Ducks in each of the final 16 plays of the game to win at Reser Stadium. Lanning knows that the Oregon State offensive line is one of the best in the nation.

“They do a good job at moving bodies upfront,” said the Ducks head coach. “They are one of the best at adding hats at the point of attack and making you be really disciplined in your run fits. If you’re not, they’re going to crease you. If there’s two guys standing in the same hole they’re going to make sure they run to the open one and they do a really good job of doing that.”

The part that a lot of Northwest fans don’t want to acknowledge is that this could be the final Civil War game. There is no guarantee that Oregon and Oregon State will continue to play each other now that the Ducks are heading to the Big 10 and the Beavers are in the Pac-2. Lanning was asked if this is a game he would want to continue playing once the teams split into different conferences.

“I think games like this are really important and it would be really great if that’s something we can make happen and continue to make happen. I know everybody on our end would love to see that continue.”

Oregon is a 13 1/2 point favorite according to betonline.ag.

Dan Lanning will appear on John Canzano’s Bald Faced Truth on Wednesday, Nov. 22nd in the 4 p.m. hour. Stream the show (afternoons 3-6 p.m.) here.

@750TheGame