Oregon’s Dan Lanning stands by past Colorado comments ahead of marquee matchup

College Football

Published Sep. 20, 2023 7:04 p.m. ET

After Colorado head coach Deion Sanders used comments made by his Nebraska counterpart Matt Rhule and Colorado State counterpart Jay Norvell to help motivate his team (and the Buffaloes’ rapidly growing fan base) before their wins over their two biggest rivals in Boulder, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning stood by his own negative comments towards Colorado this summer.

The No. 10 Ducks host the No. 19 Buffaloes in Eugene to start both schools’ final season of Pac-12 conference play Saturday. Lanning took a swipe at Colorado’s lack of success in the Pac-12 before the season, shortly following the news that the Buffaloes would return to the Big 12.

“I’m trying to remember what they won to affect this conference,” Lanning said then. “I don’t remember. Do you remember them winning anything? I don’t remember them winning anything.”

He held to those words Monday when asked about them in light of how Sanders has made a habit of using bulletin board material during Colorado’s 3-0 start.

“I don’t regret anything I’ve said on behalf of this program,” Lanning told local reporters. “At the end of the day, obviously I wasn’t talking about Deion’s team. I’m talking about the past, and the future for our team. But if that serves as material for them, great. I don’t think it’s going to have any bearing on the game.”

Sanders has not publicly addressed Lanning’s comments as of yet.

It is worth noting that unlike Rhule, who took veiled offseason swipes at the way Sanders was rebuilding Colorado’s program through the transfer portal, and Norvell, who took a direct shot at the way Sanders dresses just days before their game, Lanning is correct in saying that he was talking about Colorado’s objective lack of success in the Pac-12 in prior years, not about Sanders himself or the current Buffaloes team.

Since leaving the Big 12 for the Pac-12 in 2011, Colorado’s football team has only appeared in one conference championship game, which happened in 2016. The Buffaloes lost that game 41-10 to Washington and finished as the third-highest Pac-12 team in final rankings behind both the Huskies and USC.

While Colorado has already tripled its win total from its dismal 1-11 2022 season, the Buffaloes can really make a statement against Oregon and USC, both teams with national title aspirations. They will have to do so, however, without two-way star Travis Hunter, who will miss the team’s next three games at least after suffering a lacerated liver in the win over Colorado State.