There appears to have been a method behind Oregon’s 12-man madness against Ohio State.
The Ducks were called a penalty for having too many men on the field with ten seconds left in their 32–31 victory over Ohio State in a play that ultimately gave Ohio State five yards in exchange for four seconds off the clock.
After Oregon called a timeout, DB Dontae Manning ran onto the field late and became the 12th man on the field as he joined the area where three Ohio State receivers were lined up. OSU QB Will Howard threw to the other side of the field, but the pass fell incomplete with six seconds left.
On the next play, Howard seemed to lose sight of how much time was actually left and scrambled toward the middle. By the time he slid to the ground to call a timeout, time had expired and Oregon secured the victory.
On Monday, Oregon coach Dan Lanning was asked about the penalty. Although he did not explicitly confirm that Oregon intentionally put a twelfth player on the field, it appears the penalty was on purpose.
“There was a timeout before that: we spend an inordinate amount of time on situations,” Lanning said with a slight smile. “There are some situations that don’t happen often in college football, but this is one that we’ve obviously been working on. This way you can see the result.”
Below is Dan Lanning’s full answer on whether the 12 men on the fielding penalty against Ohio State were intentional.
In short, it seems the answer is ‘Yes’. pic.twitter.com/BtmoqxTEIn
— Brenna Greene (@BrennaGreene_) October 15, 2024
Oregon could afford to consider the five-yard penalty as a potential worst-case scenario in that case, because Ohio State was facing a 3rd-and-25 and was so far out of field goal range that five yards wouldn’t have gotten the Buckeyes close enough. to attempt a long kick. Of course, adding an extra defender won’t stop the offense from getting a big play, but it is decent coverage.
Especially with the clock rules in college football. Unlike the NFL, the clock does not reset to its pre-snap position when a 12-man penalty is called. The Oregon staff knew that time would not be added to the clock and that Ohio State would likely only have enough time for one more play, even if it were given five free yards. Four seconds for five yards is a great trade.
The solution to prevent more teams from exploiting this loophole is for college football to change the way the penalty is imposed and put the clock back on the clock. But that won’t happen until after the season at the earliest. And Oregon’s coaching staff deserves a lot of credit for realizing how to bleed seconds off the clock at Ohio State’s expense to get the win.
