Oregon’s Dan Lanning was thrown right into the fire pit in his head coaching debut, matched up against the team he had helped steer towards the National Championship the year before. It was as big of a game as someone could start out with, and unfortunately, Oregon was minced.
Later that season Oregon would fall twice more to their two biggest rivals, and miss out on the conference championship game altogether. It was disappointing, but it was Lanning’s first year.
The following season Oregon came in looking even stronger and all eyes were on Seattle midseason when the Ducks squared off against the Huskies, with both teams ranked in the Top 10.