Over the past two days, Oregon has found itself under the microscope for the result of Friday Night’s game. The Ducks were always going to blow the Portland State Vikings out, but some have seemingly decided that winning the game 84-0 was going too far. Many have bashed Dan Lanning and the Ducks for “running up the score” and “not showing empathy”.
The arguments against the Ducks quite frankly are pointless, and almost every team has faced similar inferior competition, and beaten up on the team. Those who are bashing Oregon for the way that the game went are also ignoring what they didn’t know about the game which Dan Lanning revealed on Monday Night.
Dan Lanning instantly shutdown all criticism for Portland State blowout
On Monday Night, Dan Lanning spoke to the media ahead of Oregon’s first Big Ten clash against the USC Trojans. Before ending his press conference, Dan Lanning stated twice that he asked Portland State if they wanted to play 10 minute quarters in the 2nd half, but the Vikings declined.
Dan Lanning ended his press conference and said for the record twice in the second half if Portland State wanted to go to 10 minute quarters in the 2nd half, and both times Portland State declined.
— Matt Prehm (@MattPrehm) September 22, 2026
The Ducks’ clearly tried to show empathy, but the Vikings wanted to play the full game so what is Oregon supposed to do? Dan Lanning didn’t play his starters in the second half, and reached as far down the depth chart to play 4th string players at times…