When Oregon Duck fans think of the coach Dan Lanning era, a few hallmarks immediately come to mind. Going for it on a fourth down or trying a unique play to pick up extra yardage on a third-down play is certainly one of those sparked thoughts.
However, in the Ducks’ 17-14 Autzen Stadium night victory against the Nebraska Cornhuskers, third and fourth-down calls felt more conservative. According to Lanning, that was by design.
Dan Lanning Comments On Conservative Late Down Play-Calling
It’s hard to argue after Lanning spoke that a part of the idea to keep the risk associated with “going for it” down is because Nebraska brought unique defensive looks during their road trip to Oregon.
“As the game goes on, you start to find the answers for certain coverages and looks,” Lanning said. “We’ve seen different things in every game this year, as every coach does, but we’ve also seen some things that weren’t necessarily on film. Nebraska played empty formations differently tonight than we had seen in other games. Empty has always been a pretty good package for us, but they did some things differently.”…