Dan Lanning spent his Saturday night guiding Oregon to a massive win over Washington to complete a perfect 12-0 regular season. Now, it’s a quick turnaround for the Ducks as they prepare to face Penn State in the Big Ten Championship Game.

While the Nittany Lions have plenty of talented players, the offensive and defensive units are both led by elite playmakers in tight end Tyler Warren and edge prospect Abdul Carter. Both can make game-changing plays in an instant, and Lanning was asked about both on Sunday.

The head coach of the Ducks admitted he has yet to dive into extensive film on Penn State just yet, but Lanning said he has seen Warren on film throughout the season. The versatile tight end is someone Lanning highlighted as a matchup issue but one that the coach is excited to try and figure out how to game plan around.

“I haven’t been able to watch a ton of film but I’ve seen a lot of film on him through crossover this season… He’s obviously an elite player who is a matchup issue,” said Lanning. “He’s a complete tight end… I think they do as good a job of anybody at maximizing their potential. I’m excited to hop in and dive into that plan and try to figure out how we can neutralize him.”

Warren is Penn State’s leading receiver from his TE position with 81 catches for 978 receiving yards and 6 receiving touchdowns, but those numbers just scratch the service. Penn State has built a package around Warren as a Wildcat QB, something the TE has thrived in this season.

Warren has 189 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns this season while averaging 9 yards per carry, and the former high school QB has even gone 3-for-5 passing the ball for 35 yards and a touchdown. There’s no denying he will be on the top of Oregon’s radar defensively.

On the other side of the ball, Carter has been able to wreak havoc all season long. He finished the regular season as the B1G’s leader in TFL with 20 and finished tied for 2nd in sacks with 10.

While Carter can be a game-wrecker, Lanning praised the Penn State defense for the way the unit plays together with Carter’s performance typical of their aggressive nature:

“With anything, just watching their defense and their offense, you see guys that play well together,” Lanning described. “… They have an aggressive nature. He’s certainly shown physicality and an ability to play all over the field… we’ll have to be able to identify him.”

We’ll see how Oregon goes about preparing for and trying to neutralize those 2 playmakers in the Big Ten Championship on Saturday night.