The fatal flaw with every College Football Playoff Top 10 team after first rankings
By Josh Yourish
No. 6 Oregon – Dan Lanning’s decision-making
I love an aggressive head coach and the Oregon Ducks certainly have one. Against the Washington Huskies in 2022 a fourth-down decision cost his team a win and then three fourth-down decisions in Week 7 of this season left him with the same result, another loss to the Huskies.
The worst of his three decisions came before the half in Seattle with his team down 22-18. The Ducks got to the three-yard line, but instead of taking the points before receiving the second-half kickoff, Lanning opted to go for it and the Ducks were stopped.
The other two decisions weren’t great, but were at least defensible. There is no argument for that call. Part of the reason that analytics favor going for it over kicking near the goalline is because you pin your opponent deep and are likely to get another shot with good field position. That advantage is completely gone right before the half.
I won’t get too deep into his other fourth-down calls because again, I like an aggressive head coach. Lanning just borders on reckless and it already cost his team a three-point loss.
The Ducks outgained the Huskies 541-415 and had 32 first downs to just 24. They deserved to win that game. If Oregon had beaten Washington and still dominated Utah, the Ducks would have had a very real argument to be the No. 1 team in the country, instead, they’re sixth.