There is always some amount of coach speak during a game week, but every once in a while the two press conferences begin to sound as if the coaches are answering each other.
That happened this week.
The starting points could hardly be more different. Oregon enters its first road trip after beating Boise State 34-27, a game Dan Lanning believes provided plenty to correct despite the win. Oklahoma State enters its home opener after a 24-10 loss at Tulsa that Eric Morris described as a much more revealing look at where his rebuilt program actually stands.
Listen to the two coaches long enough, though, and the subjects begin to overlap. Both talked extensively this week about execution and physicality, both went back to blocking and tackling, and both spent time on explosive plays, protection, situational football and what happens when the opposing quarterback gets comfortable.
Even their evaluations of Week 1 followed a similar path. Lanning wasn’t interested in allowing the final score to hide Oregon’s mistakes, while Morris wasn’t interested in allowing Oklahoma State’s loss to define a program with 91 new players. One coach is trying to clean up a team that won; the other is trying to build from a performance that exposed just how much work remains.
