How James Franklin and Dan Lanning Are Scouting the Penn State-Oregon Game

No. 3 Penn State hosts No. 6 Oregon on Saturday night in one of the most unique "White Out" games in the brand's history. This is just the second White Out game to feature two teams ranked in the AP top 10, and it marks the highest-ranked matchup in the game's history as well.

But after "Mo Bamba" plays, Penn State and Oregon will bury themselves into play scripts and scouting reports, which the coaches teased in their press conferences. So what do Lanning and Penn State's James Franklin think of each other's team? Their scouting reports here, which involve some good insight and plenty of flattery.

Oregon coach Dan Lanning

On the game: [We're] certainly excited for this one. I know you guys have been thinking about this one for a long time, and now we finally can focus on it as well. I mean, Penn State is an extremely talented team. They do it well in all three phases. Coach Franklin runs a great organization, and they present a ton of challenges. I've said it before, but defensively, they're multiple and disruptive as anybody we'll play.

"They've got great edge play. [Dani] Dennis-Sutton is one of the better defensive edge players in the league and in the nation. They got good play in the back end as well. They do a great job overlapping and have a lot of variety of schemes. Offensively, they're really tough to prepare for because they're moving almost every play. So, it just presents real challenges, just the shifts and movements and motions that they do. And have great running backs, good quarterback and their wide receiver plays really stands out this year. They have some speed on the field, and then special teams are really sound. So [we're] excited for that environment. It's one that I haven't been to before, but that we've heard a lot about."

On Penn State's transfer receivers: They have some guys that can stretch the field. They run good routes, and the quarterback can make all the throws. He's got a big arm. They throw more intermediate passing game and shot game than we've really seen, and that's one of the great compliments to their run game, what they're able to build off that run game with shots down the field. ... More than anything, it's just the speed. I think you see the speed that shows up, and they've made more plays on contested catches this year than they had in the past."

On Penn State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles: You're seeing a lot of scheme variation, which he had at Ohio State, but it's a lot of the simialr scheme that they carries at ohio State. And he always has new wrinkles. Every week you see something new that you haven't necessarily seen on film that he's able to pull from, that he thinks defends you well.

On Penn State's running backs: [Nicholas Singleton] hits it and builds to speed quickly. [Kaytron Allen], he's playing as good as anybody right now. He's got great vision, he's got good patience and he's able to get vertical as well. They've got a great O-line blocking for them. They get hats on hats. They play a physical brand, but it's tough because of the variety of scheme.

Penn State coach James Franklin

On Dan Lanning: I've got a tremendous amount of respect for what he's been able to do for the Oregon football program and university as a whole. It's been impressive to actually watch what they have been able to do in a short period of time, number of different coaches, and with tremendous support. So it's been impressive. Obviously Dan has a defensive background with his time as the defensive coordinator at Georgia. Small-school guy that worked his way up, which I've got a ton of respect for.

On Oregon's offense: They're multiple, is the best way I would describe. Multiple personnel groups, multiple tempos, multiple schemes. They're able to run the ball with power, spread you out as well. Obviously they've got a bunch of talented players. I think the tight end [Kenyon Sadiq] really makes them go. Obviously with what we were able to do with Tyler Warren last year, they're getting that out of their tight end position. He's a match up problem in the pass game. He's physical in the run game. Extremely explosive.

... [Quarterback] Dante Moore is young man we recruited the heck out of out of Detroit, Michigan. Was a five-star recruit, I think was a No. 1 quarterback in the country. Went to UCLA. Transferred there. Sat behind last year and now is playing really good football. No surprise there. Their running back [Jayden Limar] is very productive, very physical. Been impressed with him. And then obviously No. 1, their wide receiver, Dakorien Moore, who obviously we're very aware of. True freshmen, playing at a high level. Quick, explosive, very, very good ball skills.

On Oregon's defense: They're running a system [Lanning is] familiar with from his Alabama days. [Defensive coordinator] Tosh Lupoi as a well. Tosh has also got a similar background that Dan has. Has some NFL experience, been a defensive coordinator at Alabama, assistant at Alabama, and obviously those two guys are hand in hand. [Oregon runs a] multiple base front, four down, three down, a little bit of five down. Primary coverage they'll mix up between middle of the field open, middle of the field closed, quarters, cover one and some two robber. Playing a little bit of three safety stuff that obviously Coach Knowles has done a really good job with over his time.

We've been impressed with their outside linebacker No. 10 [Matayo Uigalelei], defensive lineman No. 52 [A'Mauri Washington, outside linebacker No. 44 [Teitum Tuioti], the transfer safety DB No. 31 [Dillon Thieneman] from Purdue; and then inside linebacker No. 28 [Bryce Boettcher] who has a great story. Local kid. Burlsworth Trophy winner and kind of seems to be the heartbeat of their defense.

On the offense's difference with Dante Moore at quarterback: I don't think it's a whole lot different. He's a throw-first guy, very accurate, can extend plays. Obviously has a ton of playmakers around him. They both had the ability to extend plays. I would say that Dante runs a little bit more. You know, runs a little bit more than maybe they had in the past. But the other guy was a really good athlete as well. So I think it's still very similar. I think that Dante sitting behind [Dillon Gabriel] for a year was really valuable for his development.

It also shows a tremendous maturity of that kid. Five-star recruit. Could have gone anywhere and he would've pretty much been the starting quarterback the day he stepped on campus, and chose UCLA. Didn't redshirt his freshman year, so that became his redshirt year. It's been a real positive for him and them. So I think very similar. They still function in a similar way to what we saw on film last year.