Game management in football boils down to making decisions based on simple mental arithmetic. Most of the time that presents itself as risk vs. reward: going for a fourth down, sending a blitz on third down, throwing deep on first and 10. Late in games, proper management becomes understanding the relative value of yards versus seconds, and Dan Lanning exploited a loophole in the rule book to No. 3 Oregon's advantage late in the Ducks' 32-31 win over No. 2 Ohio State.
With 10 seconds to play, Ohio State had the ball at Oregon's 43-yard line. A completed pass of even medium depth would put the Buckeyes in position to kick a game-winning field goal. Oregon called timeout to discuss the situation.
We don't what was discussed within Oregon's defensive huddle, but the end result put 12 Ducks on the field for the game-deciding snap.
Here's the full sequence.
In that situation, trading five yards for four seconds was an enormous swing in Oregon's favor. NBC cameras caught Ryan Day announcing -- screaming, really -- to the officials that Oregon had 12 men on the field, but Ohio State ran the called play anyway instead of spiking the ball to save an extra two to three seconds. (In their defense, who plans for a situation like that?)
However, you'll notice the 12th man didn't factor into the play, in which Oregon's best corner, Jabbar Muhammad, batted away a 1-on-1 ball hoisted toward Ohio State's best receiver, Jeremiah Smith.
Given that, what's to stop Oregon or another smart team from putting 13 players on the field the next time they find themselves in that situation? Or 14? Or 40?
Here's all the NCAA rule book has to stay on this situation.
With the ball pushed forward to Oregon's 38, the Ducks played the following play straight; the rule book no longer incentivized Oregon to weaponize it against Ohio State, since the game cannot end on a defensive penalty.
And end it did. Ohio State quarterback Will Howard dashed forward to position the Buckeyes' coming field goal attempt, only, his yards-for-points calculation was off. In gaining 12 yards, he expired all six remaining seconds.
Lanning was not asked about the sequence post-game, so we can't say for absolute certain whether the penalty was intentional gamesmanship or a fortuitous mistake. (But, c'mon, it was probably intentional.)
Either way, it was the most high-profile weaponization of the rulebook we've seen yet in that situation, and if other coaches similarly exploit that loophole moving forward, officials will need to address it in the offseason.