The Oregon Ducks will seek revenge against Indiana next Friday in the Peach Bowl after the teams’ College Football Playoff semifinal matchup was set Thursday night.
Oregon shut out Texas Tech 23-0 in their quarterfinal game. Indiana defeated Alabama 38-3 in the Rose Bowl to advance.
Minutes after the Ducks’ victory, Dan Lanning told reporters he’d already shifted focus to preparing for the next opponent.
“Start trying to evaluate the opponents that we could potentially play,” Lanning said. “Hopefully we get some WiFi up there in the air, and we can, you know, flip on a game and check it out. But it always starts with us. I sort of go back and look at this game and say, ‘Okay, well, what’d we do really well? Let’s go to the doctor. Let’s figure out what kind of medicine we got to take for the next game.'”
The Oregon coach emphasized avoiding distractions as his team prepares for the semifinal.
“I think that’s always the greatest indicator of what you have to improve when you start to analyze what you have in front of you,” Lanning said. “And then we’ll have kind of a bonus day here tomorrow, and then we’ll hop right into a normal week prep, right? Sunday prep. And I don’t even know what day to day is today, Saturday in my mind, but we’ll get a bonus day, and then it’ll be Sunday the next day.”
Lanning stressed that execution remains the team’s top priority.
“Strength in numbers. Connection to this group, the way they work all year,” Lanning said. “The sacrifices that they’ve made. They’ve earned this opportunity. I told them to go get their pound of flesh today. They did that today.”
Indiana coach Curt Cignetti and quarterback Fernando Mendoza will look to keep the Hoosiers’ season alive. Indiana remains the last Big Ten team in the playoff.
The winner advances to the national championship game, keeping playoff parity intact for another week.
