Dan Lanning’s genius move in Ohio State-Oregon sparks in-season rule change
By Austen Bundy
No. 3 Oregon's epic takedown of No. 2 Ohio State in Week 7 instantly went down as an all-time classic college football game.
The 32-31 squeaker came down to a final drive that was chock full of game-defining mistakes and genius maneuvers.
One of those was actually a penalty that Oregon took with just seconds remaining in the game, leaving 12 men on the field and draining precious time off the clock for the Buckeyes.
you NEED to watch how genius this is 👀
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) October 13, 2024
:10 left, Oregon calls a timeout
they intentionally add a 12th man late to ensure no big gain occurs
ball is snapped, no big gain
obviously it’s a penalty BUT
1) :04 ticks off clock
2) no big gain
:06 left
only time for 1 play
WIN pic.twitter.com/2MouQanBK8
Ohio State gained the free yardage but would eventually lose on a game-ending slide by quarterback Will Howard with no time remaining — thanks in part to the 12-men penalty.
In his postgame news conference, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning admitted (in so many words) that he took the penalty on purpose in order to drain the clock and leave Ohio State with limited options for its final plays.
A grinning Dan Lanning confirms that Oregon put 12 men on the field on purpose late in the game against Ohio State. He notes they work on situational football for rare situations. "This was obviously something we had worked on, so you can see the result." https://t.co/gK2I3AZuHe
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) October 15, 2024
"We spent an enormous amount of time on situations," Lanning said grinning. "There are some situations that don't show up very often in college football but this is one that, obviously, was something that we had worked on, so you could see the result."
Dan Lanning's 4D chess move prompts rule change from NCAA
According to On3Sports' Pete Nakos, the NCAA will be altering the 12-men on the field rule to require officials to reallot the time taken off the clock as a result of the penalty-laden play. Therefore, Lanning's time-wasting genius move will no longer be available to future playcallers.
It was the right thing to do, now that Lanning has exposed the clever loophole but Lanning himself cannot be faulted for using every available tool at his disposal to give his team the best chance at winning.
Was Lanning's move ethical? Probably not. Was it against the spirit of the game? Most definitely. But it wasn't illegal and Lanning will be judged regardless of that.
Nevertheless, that fateful moment will likely be referred to the rest of this season as the No. 2 Ducks now have the upper hand over the No. 4 Buckeyes in the quest for the Big Ten title and a potential national championship.
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