Dan Lanning understands there is a lot of attention placed on Ohio State’s changes since Oregon’s midseason victory. A lot of that comes from the fact that the Buckeyes are the team who lost the initial matchup, but Ohio State is not the only team that’s changed.

During his Monday press conference, Lanning made it clear that Oregin is all “about growth.” It’s something the Ducks hammer throughout the season, and the head coach believes his team has improved “a lot of things” since beating the Buckeyes.

“I don’t know if there’s one overall arching thing that you would look at and say, okay, this is where they drastically changed, because I don’t think that’s what it’s about. Growth comes in incremental pieces,” Lanning explained.

“But I think we’ve grown in a lot of areas. I think we’ve challenged ourselves to continue to change and adapt based on the teams that we’re playing.”

A big key to that per Lanning is how much information Oregon’s players have been able to handle on a regular basis. That’s a big adjustment from when he first arrived in Eugene, and it has the Ducks positioned as the No. 1 team in the country.

“The amount of information that our players are able to handle, I think, is probably one of the most stark differences in our team now compared to when I first got here that we can — there’s no such thing as information overload for our guys,” praised Lanning. “If we can give them a nugget that will help them perform in the game, our guys are really able to absorb that really well.”

At this point in the season, it’s time to throw out the rankings and forget about home field advantage with every game at a neutral site moving forward. As for Oregon’s adjustments, we’ll see if the Ducks or Buckeyes have improved the most in the Rose Bowl rematch on New Year’s Day.