Lanning’s Ducks Shock Buckeyes in Monumental Upset, 32-31
By Ken Woody
A roaring crowd of Duck fans drowned out the thousands of Ohio State fans who journeyed west to see their beloved Buckeyes slap down the Big-Ten Conference newcomers and establish their right to be champions. As a record crowd of 60,219 mostly stood and screamed all game long, the nation’s number-two ranked Bucks buckled in the last seconds and presented their swords, and their respect, to coach Dan Lanning’s squad who held on for a 32-31 victory in the greatest win ever (to this point, the season’s only half over) for the University of Oregon.
In my sixty-four years of football playing, coaching, commentating, analyzing and waxing eloquent, I have never seen a better, more exciting football game. For both sides, it wasn’t perfect, but it was artistic, passionate, and at the gun, a desperately wild expression of brave individual performances on both sides. Scalpers were commanding $2,000 for prime tickets for this game that was sold out for months before—after this heart attack a buyer could not complain about not seeing a game worth that price.
This game was unusual in that it actually lived up to the national and regional expectations that had percolated since last spring when October 12th was circled on college football fans’ calendars. Over time, great expectations are met with disappointments: a famous coach bungles his decisions, the star player fails to play to his usual level, the game is one-sided, your favorite team falls flat; you get the picture. This game was breathless from the start and the unrestrained joy of the hysterical students pouring on the field in a massive mosh pit to celebrate a game and victory, that did meet expectations, was worth the price of admission and more.
In the first half, quarterback Dillon Gabriel put aside any doubts that he wasn’t going to be better against Ohio State than he was the previous week against Michigan State. The offensive line provided excellent protection, giving Gabriel time to slash the Buckeyes for four completions of over 15 yards: (28,69,32, and 48 yards). Gabriel was all business, driving Oregon 75 yards in 2:36 for a halftime lead of 22-21 with the Ducks getting the kickoff for the second half.
Unfortunately, the Duck offense succumbed to some drab play execution, ran five plays, and punted, losing the advantage of deferring until the second half. In six quick plays, OSU went 79 yards and the score mounted, 28-22 for the explosive Buckeyes who would have legendary coach Woody Hayes spiraling in agony in his grave over their “non-four yards and a cloud of dust” offense.
Gabriel was magnificent in this game and he’ll be the first to tell you he owes it to his offensive line that provided a clean pocket and time for him to throw a variety of passes, both long and short, at all times, pivotal moments in this game that never allowed anyone to relax. In the second half, the Bucks came with some blitzes, but were unable to sack Gabriel or force him to lose focus as he did against Michigan State.
There came a time in the second half when each team took possession of the ball, knowing it might be the last chance their side would have to control the outcome of the game. Ohio State has an awesome arsenal of receivers and the Duck secondary looked over their head attempting to cover them in long yardage situations.
In particular Oregon defenders covering the slot receiver in man coverage were aligned on the outside shoulder of the receiver, the absolute worst place to line up and try to defend a quick breaking inside route. In the first half, it appeared OSU could run the route at will, but play caller supreme Chip Kelly went away from it in the second half. In general, there seemed to be a lack of the usual brilliance in his play calling, even in the running game for which he is famous.
Oregon’s front, missing their leader Jordan Burch, who was out with an injury suffered in practice, was mostly unable to get pressure on Buckeye quarterback Will Howard who completed 28-of-35 passes for 326 yards. Ohio State’s brilliant receivers Emeka Egbuka and Jeremiah Smith caught 23 passes between them with Egbuka gaining 93 yards and 17-year-old freshman Smith gaining 100 yards; each had a touchdown catch and rare was the occasion that an Oregon secondary member was close enough to break up the catch. After getting 19 pass breakups in two games earlier in the season, the Ducks came up with only one against OSU.
The game had seven lead changes, including four in the action-packed second half. With each score you would wonder what it was going to take to move the Ducks in front, for good. Oregon’s offense came out flat in the third quarter, and Ohio State wasted little time, going 79 yards in three minutes to go ahead 28-22. Gabriel matched, driving the Ducks 60 yards in two minutes to take the lead, 29-28 in the early fourth quarter.
The Buckeyes took half the fourth quarter to drive for a field goal to go up 31-29 with six minutes left in the game. At that point Duck faithful were praying for Gabriel to continue his solid leadership and pinpoint passing to drive the offense to either a field goal, or better, a touchdown to win the game.
In Oregon’s go-ahead 74-yard drive, Gabriel completed 5-of-5 passes and called five running plays to get the ball to State’s two-yard line. James gained one on third- and-goal and Lanning, having witnessed his offensive line’s earlier failure to blow the Buckeyes off the ball from the one-yard line, decided to put his Ducks ahead with a field goal.
The only problem was there was still 1:47 left in the game and all Buckeye coach Ryan Day needed was 45 yards for a shot at a game-winning field goal. Howard was sacked on his first play, Oregon’s only for the game, crucial as it put the Buckeyes in the hole, forcing them to focus on short yardage passes to get first downs instead of going deep.
The breath-taking play of the game (for both teams) occurred on a second-and-10 completion to Jeremiah Smith, but the freshman was caught with an offensive interference penalty for pushing off the defender: 15 yards, and more importantly, putting Ohio State’s field goal kicker back to the 50-yard line, out of range.
Howard had two incompletions, one hurried by A’Mauri Washington with 13 seconds left, and the other, for the Ducks’ only breakup of the game, by Jabbar Muhammad with nine seconds to go. On what turned out to be the last play of the game, Howard faded to pass, couldn’t find an open receiver and in desperation, decided to make a run for it—a big mistake as he found out. The Duck defense in a wise way, spread out, covering all receivers and let Howard run with the seconds ticking off the clock. He slid down to kill the clock and use OSU’s final time out for a last second field goal to crush the hopes of Oregon’s fans. Film clearly showed Howard ending his slide on the 26-yard line with no time left, as the clock struck midnight for the Ohio State Buckeyes and their number-two national ranking.
After the smoke cleared, Lanning shared that the team’s game plan was to outrush Ohio State, something that before the game might have been seen as a pipe dream. But the Ducks won the ground game 155-141, even with the Bucks having the advantage of faster backs compared to Oregon’s. Jordan James gained 118 yards and did it at times minus the dominating blocking the Ducks’ forward wall had displayed the previous two games. Still, Oregon outrushed OSU 82-19 in the critical second half, which had to shock coach Kelly.
An overlooked but vital statistic turned out to be penalties: 8-for-70 yards for Ohio State and only 3-for-25 yards for Oregon. The crowd’s noise was a factor for the Buckeyes’ offensive line: four false starts and delay of game, frustrating for a group that should have had an edge over the Duck defensive line operating without Jordan Burch, their best player and leader.
Coach Lanning and the Ducks now must get their breath back, get down to the business of correcting and buttressing weaknesses in their game, and focus on Purdue on Friday. Although in disarray, the Boilermakers came up with 49 points and barely lost to a good Illinois team. A psychic would warn Oregon is in a perfect place to have a letdown. Lanning has a special team, but will the Ohio State win and a long plane ride with only four days of practice be enough to keep moving forward?
Ken Woody coached college football for 18 years as an assistant at Oregon, Washington, Utah State and Washington State and as a head coach at Whitman College and Washington University-St. Louis. He conducts a coaching clinic, free to all, at the 6th Street Grill every Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. during the season. Plays from Oregon games are analyzed, there are scouting reports for opponents, and highlights from referees; all to learn and enjoy football and understand why the Ducks win or lose.
Questions and comments welcomed.
Contact Ken at: woody8783@comcast.net
