EUGENE — For the whole of Dan Lanning’s tenure as Oregon football coach, winning games in the trenches has been a consistent talking point. Never more so than in the weeks leading up to the Ducks’ debut in the Big Ten conference, historically known for its physicality and ground-and-pound offenses.

Lanning has been asked plenty about the flash and dash team from the West Coast taking on the burly, cornfed boys from the Midwest, but it’s all rooted in perception. In reality, this roster is built in such a way — particularly on the defensive side of the ball — that the Ducks expect to match that physicality and compete at a high level from the jump in the Big Ten.

Ask new Ducks defensive tackle Derrick Harmon, a transfer from Michigan State.

“We got some dudes on the D-line,” Harmon said, shaking his head. “You got (Jordan) Burch that’s 6-6, what, 270? Come on now. You ain’t gettin’ none of that. That’s a Big Ten body right there. That’s SEC. We got the bodies for Big Ten, I don’t want to hear none of that. Got the bodies inside, got the bodies outside. Got young guys that’s big. We got the bodies, for sure.”

Physicality, of course, is not just about size — although the bodies of Oregon football players in 2024 dwarf many on the 2014 roster.

The Ducks point to practice habits and mental approach as reasons why they expect the play style of their new conference to fit like a glove.

Burch — a senior out of South Carolina — will lead a group of defensive linemen with his disruptive play in the backfield. He had 34 tackles, including 7.5 for loss, and three sacks last season, competing for snaps with the likes of now-departed elite players such as Brandon Dorlus, Casey Rogers and others. Oregon added transfer Jamaree Caldwell from Houston to the interior defensive line this offseason, too, along with Harmon.

“It starts with our mindset,” Burch said. “We have some people that have played against teams we’ll play this season, and they’ll tell us how it really is. Teams like to run the ball a lot, what kind of mindset we have to have going into the game. But football is all the same. Nothing will really change. Everything will go in place.”

Football is football. It’s a phrase Lanning and his players use often, and it can sound like an excuse when one ignores the deeper context. That being, football is football — if you assemble the right players to compete, and practice with intentionality.

Oregon is built from the inside out defensively, in the mold of Lanning’s defenses when he was the coordinator at Georgia. And as one zooms out from where Harmon and Burch live in the trenches, one finds elite combinations of size and speed in linebackers and edge rushers like Jeffrey Bassa and Matayo Uiagalelei, hard-hitting safeties in Kobe Savage and Tysheem Johnson, and a field general at corner: Washington transfer Jabbar Muhammad.

“Even pre-Big Ten, this team was pretty physical,” Muhammad said. “But just being here, going through spring workouts, going through spring training, and also spring football. The practices show. It’s crazy physical. It’s hitting, it’s thudding no matter what. I think this team will be pretty well-adjusted going to the Big Ten.”

As with so many positions on both sides of the ball for the Ducks, depth acquired through meticulous recruiting will be key for keeping its defense — particularly the front seven — fresh. It is why names like A’Mauri Washington keep popping up: young players Oregon believes are prepared to take the next step despite veteran additions in the transfer portal.

“We always say if you’re good enough, you’re old enough,” Lanning said. “Defensively especially. We want to have a lot of guys that can play winning football, whether it’s above the line or below the line. If you can play winning football, we want you involved. Any time you start looking at snaps, you don’t want them playing 75 snaps a game.

“You want to be able to spread the wealth. When you do that, you get guys’ best performance. Having more guys that can play on the front, I think that’s really important for us, so that when they’re on the field they can play at a really high level.”