Dan Lanning Made No Excuses for Oregon After Humbling Rose Bowl Defeat to Ohio State

Oregon bowed out of the College Football Playoff in Wednesday's quarterfinal loss to Ohio State at the Rose Bowl. Despite the Ducks being ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation, they faced a relatively unfavorable opening matchup in the CFP, pitted up against a stalwart Buckeyes team after not having played since Dec. 7.

After the game, Dan Lanning made clear that he wasn't making any excuses for Oregon's lackluster showing against Ryan Day's side, taking the loss on the chin rather than trying to suggest there were external factors at play.

"We had an opportunity, and we didn't take advantage of our opportunity. I'm not going to make excuses. Ultimately you've got to beat great teams at the end of the year, and we didn't do that. This was the road that we had to travel, and they did it better than us tonight," Lanning told reporters, speaking complimentarily of the Buckeyes.

Because of the way the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket shook out, Oregon was rewarded for its 13–0 season and Big Ten championship campaign with a difficult matchup against Ohio State, which was ranked as the No. 8 seed. Lanning made clear that despite some questionable seeding for one of the most formidable teams in the country, the Ducks would've needed to beat teams of that caliber at some point in the playoff, and they came up short on Wednesday.

Lanning took ownership for Oregon's lack of preparedness, particularly the team's struggles on the offensive side of the ball.

"They clicked tonight and we didn't. And I didn't get our team prepared. And that's a great team. When you play a great team like Ohio State, you can't not be clicking on all cylinders. And they were. They were clicking on all cylinders. We really didn't have the ability to stop them, and we didn't have the ability to get something going for us on offense," Lanning said.

Oregon had -23 yards rushing yards in the game and were held to just eight points in the first half. Dillon Gabriel was sacked eight times. For all the preparation that went into the game, the Ducks looked outmatched from the start of the first quarter down to the final whistle. Lanning held himself accountable for their shortcomings, refusing to make excuses for his team's lackluster performance.