Football Practice Recap: Sept. 20
09/20/23 | Football
The No. 10 Ducks are preparing to host Colorado on Saturday (12:30 p.m., ABC).
The Oregon football team was in full pads for the second day in a row Wednesday, as the 10th-ranked Ducks practiced on their outdoor fields in advance of Saturday's matchup with Colorado (12:30 p.m., ABC).
Saturday's game will be one of three this weekend involving top-10 teams from Oregon competing at home. The No. 7 women's cross country will compete along with the No. 15 men's team in the Bill Dellinger Invitational on Friday morning in Springfield, and the No. 6 volleyball team hosts Oregon State on Friday night.
Then, the No. 10 football team hosts Colorado on Saturday. This is just the second time that both football and volleyball are ranked in the top 10 and hosting conference play in the same week, and the first time since 2012.
After football practice Wednesday, UO coach Dan Lanning and four players – running back Noah Whittington, offensive lineman Ajani Cornelius, linebacker Jeffrey Bassa and defensive back Steve Stephens IV – met with local media. Video of those interviews is embedded below.
Some highlights from coach Lanning …
On the hype surrounding Saturday's matchup: "Play the game, not the occasion. It's another game; it's a different game. It's a worthy opponent. They're really good, a good team. But play the game, play your game."
On new cleats the Ducks will wear that change color with changing temperature: "They look cool. They look really cool. I think that's a great representation of what it's like to be at Oregon and be connected with a place like Nike, and how much they do for us and how they make an impact on our program, because those are pretty neat. And what I love about it is, when these guys are wearing it at practice, I can tell if they're practicing hard. If their cleats aren't turning colors, then we got problems."
On penalties that frustrate him the most: "Anything that happens post-snap. It drives me nuts when we have post-snap penalties, plays outside the whistle. There's gonna be aggressive penalties within the framework of the game at times, but we can't be having those penalties that cost us after the snap."
On this also being a big recruiting weekend: "We'll have a lot of people here. I know our crowd's going to be amazing, but we're gonna have a ton of great people that can help us in the future that we need to make a great impact on."
