Oregon Coach Dan Lanning Gets Real On Emotions Of Game-Winning Kick

A game-winning field goal by kicker Atticus Sappington helped the No. 9 Oregon Ducks escape what could’ve been a massive upset against the No. 20 Iowa Hawkeyes. The Ducks' kicker hit a field goal to lift Oregon to an 18-16 victory and keep the team’s postseason hopes alive.

Coach Dan Lanning reacted to the game-winning drive and Sappington's heroics after the game.

The Ducks suffered multiple injury scares before and after the game, including an in-game exit from wide receiver Gary Bryant Jr. Lanning provided a post-game update on multiple players like Dakorien Moore and Alex Harkey, who missed the game.

What Lanning Said

oregon ducks dan lanning iowa hawkeyes dante moore dakorien gary bryant college football playoff big ten atticus sappington — Nov 8, 2025; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning enters Kinnick Stadium before the game against the Iowa Hawkeyes. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images | Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

Opening Statement:

“Well guys, I guess that’s what they call Big Ten football. And what an unbelievable game. You’re looking up there at the score and you’re like, ‘Okay, it’s 2-0.’ Man, Iowa does such a good job of being in the fight, continually being in the fight. I felt like we were winning in a lot of categories tonight and they were just hanging around,” Lanning said.

“They did a great job. Obviously, they’re right there and you have to give a lot of credit to them for the position they put themselves in. I think there’s gonna be a lot of learning moments for us on how we can finish games like this,” he continued.

“But to get the ball back with a little bit of time and our guys go execute a two-minute drive I think just tells you the heart and resiliency of our group. We talk about strength in numbers. We had some guys that had to step up their opportunities. And they were ready for their opportunities this week, which is unbelievable. Great for them.”

“I know everybody will want some updates on injuries and where guys are at, but I’m really just proud of the way the guys played. Ultimately, it was kind of a weird week. We actually didn’t have a lot of contact. Dakorien kind of tweaked his knee on a non-contact in spiders. I think he’s gonna be okay, but was obviously out tonight,” Lanning said.

“Kenyon has had lingering injuries since the Rutgers game where he makes a big catch in the end zone. We just want to give him the ability to try to recover from that because he's tried to practice and it hasn't been what it needed to be. Harkey rolled his ankle, but he was really close to being able to potentially help us in this game and kind of the same with (Devon Jackson),” Lanning continued.

“All those guys being out, you see a bunch of guys step up. You need guys to step up in big moments like this. Face some adversity early in the game with the interception, and guys were putting each other on each other’s backs. Defense coming up with a big takeaway,” he said.

“We said special teams had to be special tonight. We weren’t gonna let 21 beat us in the special teams. I thought our guys did an outstanding job of covering.”

“Can’t say enough good things about Atticus Sappington. You talk about ice in your veins in a moment like that. Several big kicks. I probably should have tried the kick earlier. It was a little bit of a long field goal with the wind down there on that end and we ended up punting it. But ultimately really proud of the way these guys played and attacked.”

The Game-Winning Kick:

“If you want the truth, I was pretty nervous. I’m nervous for him because it shouldn’t come down to that moment for Atticus. And that guy’s gonna feel an unbelievable amount of pressure, however that goes,” Lanning said.

“But I’m really proud that he’s able to handle a moment like that. We do a lot of pressure kicks in practice and try to recreate it. But there’s nothing like 70,000 fans, the last second of the game, seven seconds left having to kick that kick. You can’t recreate that in practice. And Atticus handled that like a champ.”

How Sappington’s Approached Practice:

“I see it consistently throughout practice. It just happened to be this is the game where we needed all of them. I think he’s done a really good job for us. And I’m excited he could have that moment because he works really, really hard,” he said.

“Even, nobody is gonna credit the squib kick there at the end, but obviously they struggled to field the squib. I just thought our specialists played really well today. We felt like coming into this game that defense was gonna be really important and special teams had to be really special, and they were tonight.”

On the Game-Winning Drive:

“Dante was lights out on that drive. It reminds me of what we do in practice,” Lanning said. “We put our guys in a lot of scenarios like that, but I don’t ever give them, it was a minute and fifty-one (seconds)?”

“I don’t ever give them that much time in practice to go execute that same situation. They were able to do it quick. Will (Stein) I thought did a good job. I thought it started off with some runs, which is important to make sure they know the run’s still alive, especially when you have three timeouts,” he continued.

“We were short of the first down a couple of times. Nobody panicked. We lined up, we even converted short yardage there on a third-and-one, a 10-point balance play. Ultimately, a really good job by our coaches and a really unbelievable job by our players in those moments.”

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The Last Two-Minute Drive:

“We were looking not to sub to give them an opportunity to sub. We felt really good about Malik (Benson) in the situation. We had some repeater calls that we can use in two-minute scenarios. We caught them in man-to-man,” he said.

“We knew that they were going to potentially be aggressive there at the end. And that’s the quarterback and the wideout being on the same page of saying, ‘Okay, If I get one high (safety), here’s where I’m going.’ And Malik went and made a great play.”

“We knew where we were going to utilize our timeouts. I think a lot of people in college football panic and start using timeouts outside of the one-minute mark. That’s never been our philosophy here. I think we used them exactly how we wanted to use them there. I think the first one was 23 or 24 seconds,” Lanning continued.

“In my mind, it’s inside the 30-second mark. We wanted to make sure we reserved one if we needed it for a field goal. Obviously, we had that. And we want to make sure we have the whole field available, and you don’t have to just throw the ball out of bounds. Utilizing that second timeout so we were able to throw the ball in the middle of the field and still have an option there. The guys executed it flawlessly and then Atticus makes a great kick.”

The Team Handling Injuries:

“I think they handled it well. I told some of those guys their role is coaches today. You got to go out there and coach and make the people around you better,” Lanning said.

“I’m anxious to get our team back and get it healthy and see where we’re at, but we’ll evaluate that as it comes. But I thought guys stepped up. We always say, ‘Don’t wait for your opportunity to be ready for your opportunity.’ I thought some guys were ready for their opportunity tonight.”

Injury Outlook Ahead of Minnesota:

“We’ll reassess it. It would be unfair for me to say right now.”

Gary Bryant Jr.’s Injury:

“I don’t have an update on Gary right now.”

Winning with a Younger Team:

“We’re not rookies anymore. We have some young players that have been playing a lot of football this season. The time of being freshmen and young guys, that’s over with now. We’ve played several games, and those games, that experience it pays off, and I think that showed up tonight.”

Linebacker Jerry Mixon’s Performance:

“Jerry’s been a warrior for us all year. I think it’s very clear that we trust him. He plays winning football. I thought he did that tonight. We had a couple of misfit issues early, and not necessarily Jerry, but in general, they had a couple of runs they hit on us, and I thought our guys made great corrections on the sideline. We were able to handle the run game. There was never a doubt in their mind the way that they played, and I’m really proud of that.”

Winning on the Road:

“We’ve been really good on the road, really regardless, since we’ve hopped in this conference. Again, it wasn’t always pretty, but our guys are resilient. They are tough, they can handle tough moments. If it’s a four-quarter fight, we can do a four-quarter fight.”

“If it’s gonna go into OT, we can do that. Proud of the way they handled the moment. I had guys coming up to me at the end of the game like, ‘Coach, breathe.’ That’s what I’m telling them all week. For them to be able to come up and say that same thing to me, it tells you they believe in what we’re doing. It makes me really proud,” Lanning continued.

The Run Game:

“We felt like it mattered. We felt like, obviously, with the conditions today, we came out the first drive and threw it the first three times, and that wasn’t necessarily by design. It was based on the box they had. But we said we got to go win by the way we run the ball. And our running backs ran extremely hard tonight.”

“I got a feeling that Noah (Whittington) is gonna have a couple of ice packs on him on the flight home. The way those guys ran, and they blocked really well. We wanted to have a variety of run game. We heard the noise all week about how they don’t give up runs, and we just made note of that. We wanted to be able to run the ball effectively in this game, and we did.”

The Impact of the Rain:

“Luckily, we’ve been seasoned and able to train in it a little bit this year. I think that first drive was really evident to me this is going to be really tough to throw in. We made a commitment to saying, let’s run, let’s not step on the field again and have another series where we don’t run the ball.”

“But I thought they handled it well. And then we had to throw it to win at the end, and we were able to throw it to win. It was better in the second half. It was a little bit easier to throw it, but some big, big moments there, and our guys handled it well.”

The Forced Fumble:

“It was huge. I’m sitting there saying 'Are we gonna review it, are we gonna review it, are we gonna review it? We got there. So, we got that right answer and got the right results. I’m glad it all played out the way it did. Big moments. I guess we ended up with one takeaway, they ended up with on takeaway. And that takeaway mattered right?”

If Received an Explanation on the No-Call Against Intentional Grounding:

“I was told there was a wide out near. Did you see one? There was another question I had, too. A couple of other questions.”

Where He Ranks This Win:

“As much as the world tries to look ahead, we try to keep our eyes (on) what’s right in front of us. I knew how our guys had to perform tonight, and I thought they did a great job of that. This is a tough team to run on. That’s as good a defense as you’ll get to play. And they played great D.. We felt it was really important to run the ball, and we had a lot of creative ways to do that. I gotta give credit to our coaches and credit to our players,” he said.

“For Gernorris (Wilson) to step up and play a really good game. We gotta go watch the film, but there’s a bunch of guys out there that’s numbers got called, Jamari (Johnson), Roger (Saleapaga), and those guys, to show up and block the way they did, and our backs to run the way they did, and our wideouts blocking down the field.”

“We felt like that was an important key to the game was how we win in the rushing battle, and we did that tonight. Where’s that rank when it’s all said and done? I’m glad we got a W. I’m already thinking about Minnesota because they’ve had a week off waiting for us. So, we’ll move to that one really quick.”