Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning has a gift for next-level thinking and a willingness to manipulate situations in search of advantage.
Earlier this year he intentionally drew a penalty for too many men on the field to shave precious seconds off the clock in the last minute of the 32-31 win over Ohio State in Autzen Stadium. A few weeks later he employed a weird punt formation to induce a penalty on Michigan for lining up over the punt snapper, resulting in a first down.
While the third-year head coach has built a culture steeped in competitiveness, physicality and detailed preparation, he’s also shown himself to be a big-balls gambler with an addiction to cleverness. Late in the fourth quarter during the 16-13 win over Wisconsin, Lanning and the Ducks faced fourth and four at the Badger 20. A field goal would’ve put them up by six. For the season they’d been 9-14 going for it on 4th down, 64%, and running back Jordan James had been gashing the UW defense.
Lanning elected to line up for the field goal try, but run a fake with the holder, punter Ross James trying a plunge over the left side. That failed. The Badgers tripped up Ross a half-yard short of the line to gain.