No, NCAA, don’t change your rule because of Dan Lanning’s cleverness

Dan Lanning’s wisdom and creativity could lead to a change in NCAA rules. The Oregon coach took advantage of a loophole in the college football rules and helped the Ducks to a 32-31 victory over Ohio State. Now the organization wants to clarify some of the outstanding questions in sport.

Saturday night’s game in Eugene was an instant classic. But the play that came back from this showdown more than any other was Lanning’s decision to intentionally call an illegal substitution penalty as time dwindled in the fourth quarter.

With 10 seconds left in the game and Ohio State at Oregon’s 43-yard line, Lanning called a timeout to discuss defensive strategy. He then sent 12 players onto the field — an illegal substitution penalty — which prevented the Buckeyes from making a big play to get into field goal range.

A pass from Ohio State University’s Will Howard to Jeremiah Smith failed with four seconds elapsed. Yes, the Buckeyes accepted the 5-yard penalty after the play, but were still unable to attempt a field goal. On the next play, Howard tripped, slipped at the 38-yard line as time expired, and Oregon secured one of the greatest victories in program history.

When asked about the situation during his weekly press conference, Lanning didn’t confirm that he took the penalty intentionally, but he was pretty darn close.

“We spend an inordinate amount of time on situations,” Lanning said. “There are some situations that don’t happen very often in college football, but we’ve obviously worked on this one. So you can see the result.”

Now, a few days after Lanning was praised for taking advantage of the circumstances, The athlete reports that the NCAA could close the loophole that helped Oregon defeat Ohio State.

One proposed change – according to the report – would be to impose a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct in a similar situation. This would result in a 15-yard penalty and an additional time extension to deter coaches from exploiting the rule.

Pardon my French, but what nonsense.

There are ambiguities in almost every written rule in every sport. There will always be loopholes. Up to this point it’s usually not a big deal.

Defensive backs occasionally intentionally disrupt the pass to prevent big passing plays. In basketball, a team with a three-point lead late in the game will often foul an opponent instead of defending, forcing them to shoot two free throws instead of attempting a game-winning three-pointer. On the baseball diamond, a pitcher intentionally runs with the opponent’s best hitter.

Do you see the slippery slope here? Maybe this is just my opinion, but Lanning’s use of the illegal substitution rule is no different than the examples listed above. Should the NCAA consider some of the other regulations mentioned when changing the illegal substitution rule?

Additionally, the NCAA has a much bigger problem right now with some teams regularly faking injuries to slow down the pace of play. No, there is currently no rule against it, but it may be the most unethical “strategy” in college sports.

Maybe they should deal with that first.

Yes, Oregon benefited from a unique strategy in a unique situation. In my opinion, Lanning deserves credit for outsmarting both Ohio State and the NCAA on Saturday night. Because of his wit, we don’t need a committee rewriting the rules.

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