Dan Lanning defends fourth down, onside kick decisions

Oregon watched their College Football Playoff chances likely slip away as Washington handed them their first defeat since Week 1 on Saturday, and Dan Lanning took the podium disappointed afterwards.

The Ducks leader had some questionable decisions to answer for, including an onside kick attempt and a fourth down turnover that resulted in a game-winning field goal for the Huskies. Afterwards, Lanning didn’t have any regrets regarding the choices he made.

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“We’ve sat in this room and talked about them when they’ve worked out, now we’re sitting in this room and talking about them when they didn’t,” answered Lanning, putting everything in perspective. “The onside, that was my decision. The guy moved a little bit where it wasn’t there. We thought it was there earlier in prep. The fourth down, you fall and slip. It’s going to be hard to convert in that situation, but we knew that we were going in that situation.

“You look back, you could say in retrospect we should punt there, have a chance, but you also feel like if you get that first, you probably have a chance to go and win the game.”

Alas, Dan Lanning makes some solid points, but it won’t ease the sting of the loss. Still, the Ducks are enjoying immense success in his first season and laying a tremendous foundation, even if the College Football Playoff isn’t in their future.

Dan Lanning takes blame for Oregon’s loss

Moreover, Oregon made their path to the College Football Playoff far more difficult, if not impossible, with their loss to Washington. The Ducks went down 37-34 on their home field to the Huskies in a critical hit to their postseason aspirations.

As he sat disappointed during his postgame press conference, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning had no problem taking the blame for the loss.

While the Ducks had early mistakes and weren’t able to slow down Washington consistently, he was willing to fall on the sword for the performance that Oregon had on the field on Saturday night.

“This game 100% falls on me, right? Our players gave phenomenal effort. They tried really hard,” said Lanning. “We shot ourselves in the foot a few times in the first half. But we were able to move the ball much better in the second half. That being said, we weren’t able to get a stop defensively.”

Oregon came back from a first-half lead for Washington to take control during most of the second half. However, they were never officially able to put the Huskies away. Michael Penix Jr. was a big part of that effort with 408 yards and two touchdowns on a 74.3% completion rate.

Oregon’s crucial decision to go for it on fourth down on their side of the field with a minute and a half left sealed their fate though. That’s likely where Lanning feels that responsibility the most. The Huskies were immediately in range to kick the winning field goal. From there, the Ducks were unable to put themselves in position to send it to overtime.

You have to respect the accountability from a first-year head coach whose team came up short in a big moment. It’s a loss that may very well end Oregon’s CFP chances but, with the Pac-12 still at stake, Lanning and the Ducks will need to regroup quickly for another big game coming up next against Utah.