Swanson: Oregon coach Dan Lanning takes every advantage he can get

LOS ANGELES – If I’m in any way affiliated with the USC or UCLA football programs, I pray that Dan Lanning’s viral quote early this year proves to be a sharp Nike-level marketing gambit and not a sincere statement of fact.

But he probably did mean it.

“The grass is damn green in Eugene,” he said, shooting down rumors – in his most Dan Lanning way – that he was interested in leaving his post as Oregon’s head coach for the same job at Alabama.

He’s right, you know. I lived in Eugene; it rains a lot there.