Dan Lanning; “We spend to win. Some places save to have an excuse for why they don’t.”

Dan Lanning and his top ten Oregon program are set to take on Mike Gundy and Oklahoma State this weekend, and some comments made yesterday by the veteran Oklahoma State head coach are stoking the fires of the matchup ahead of Saturday.

Both programs have enjoyed the financial backing of some impressive mega-boosters over the years. Oregon, of course, has the full power of Phil Knight and Nike behind them while Mike Gundy and the Cowboys had T. Boone Pickens in their corner for decades before his passing in 2019 in a partnership that helped fuel their growth and consistent success under Gundy.

However, when it comes to spending money on their roster since NIL, there’s a significant gap, Gundy points out.

While appearing on his weekly radio show yesterday, Mike Gundy shared that his Cowboys program spent around $7 million on assembling their team over the past three seasons.

That comment was immediately followed by how many millions of dollars he believes Lanning and the Ducks spent on their roster last year alone.

“I think Oregon spent close to $40 [million] last year alone. That was just one year. Now, I may be off a few million.”

That wasn’t the only comment Gundy had on Oregon’s spending. After acknowledging public chatter that Ducks quarterback Dante Moore could go down as one of the best to ever play the position at Oregon, Gundy noted it would “cost a lot of money” to keep him on the roster before adding that there are “coaches saying” Oregon’s budget should help to determine their schedule outside of their Big Ten league opponents.

Translation: Oregon should be playing teams in their own NIL bracket, and not Gundy and his Cowboys.

Lanning, during his weekly news conference, was asked about Gundy’s comments from earlier in the day, and boy did he address them.

“If you want to be a top-10 team in college football, you better be invested in winning,” Lanning shared after fighting back a grin during the question.

“We spend to win. Some places save to have an excuse for why they don’t.”

Man. What a quote there. Especially when you consider how 2024 went for Gundy’s program.

Gundy is in his 20th season leading his alma mater in Stillwater, and they’re coming off the worst season of his tenure after finishing 3-9. The losing season was just his second under .500 finish in two decades atop the program, with the first one coming in his debut season after finishing 5-7.

Lanning would go on to share that he can’t speak on Oklahoma State’s specific financial situation, because he has “no idea what they’ve got in their pockets over there.”

Addressing the scheduling comment made by Gundy, Lanning did note “I’m sure UT-Martin maybe didn’t have as much as them last week, and they played. So we’ll let it play out.”

Hear more from Dan Lanning’s presser in the clip below.