EUGENE, Ore. – No. 2 Oregon had 12 men on the field late in its 32-31 win over No. 4 Ohio State, with the resulting penalty causing precious seconds to wind off the clock.
Turns out, it was on purpose.
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“We spend an inordinate amount of time on situations and some situations don't come up very often in college football, but this was obviously something we had worked on,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said Monday night. “You can see the result.”
Oregon took the lead with 1:47 left on Atticus Sappington’s 19-yard field goal in Saturday night's game, giving the Buckeyes time to drive down the field for a potential winning field goal. With Ohio State facing a third-and-25 from Oregon's 43-yard line, the Ducks called a timeout with 10 seconds left.
Just before the ball was snapped, Oregon defensive back Dontae Manning walked onto the field, giving the Ducks an extra defender. Ohio State failed to complete a pass against Oregon's 12-man defense on the next play, and the Ducks were flagged for an illegal substitution penalty.
Ohio State gained five yards on the penalty, but lost four seconds off the clock since the penalty was deemed a live-ball foul. The Buckeyes were left with six seconds on the clock, and quarterback Will Howard scrambled up the middle, sliding a second too late for Ohio State to call a timeout for a potential game-winning field goal at Oregon's 26.
Lanning's ploy helped the Ducks win the game and move up to No. 2 in this week's AP Top 25.
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