Dan Lanning’s high-octane Oregon squad easily disposed of Michigan State on Friday night in Eugene.

In 7 nights, on the same field at Autzen Stadium, things are probably going to be a lot harder. And Lanning is well aware of this, as his 6th-ranked Ducks start preparing for their 1st real showdown as a Big Ten team when 3rd-ranked Ohio State travels west for a primetime showdown on NBC.

The morning after his team improved to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in conference play with an easy 31-10 victory over the Spartans, Lanning joined the FOX Big Noon Kickoff pregame show to talk about the looming battle with the Buckeyes.

“I always talk about playing the game, not the occasion,” said Lanning.

“They’ve done a good job of ignoring all you guys for a while now,” joked Lanning about the media hype surrounding the game. “It’s time now that we actually need to go play this game. It’s exciting, certainly for our fans, for the University of Oregon. To get to go compete against Ohio State, it’s going to be a special one. There’s going to be a lot of fanfare about this game, but it’s going to really be about the game itself.”

If Ohio State can simply take care of Iowa at home on Saturday afternoon, then next Saturday night’s showdown will be a matchup of unbeatens.