SEATTLE — Dan Lanning is the guy who takes a card in blackjack with 18 showing. Then he’s surprised when he busts the hand. Over and over and over.
There is aggressive coaching, which is very much in vogue. And then there is foolhardy coaching. Lanning has crossed the Rubicon into recklessness.
The Oregon coach has become the fourth-down dunce of college football, repeatedly going for it when a kick—a field goal, a punt, just send out the kicking team, Dan—would be the smarter play. He earned a spot in game-management infamy last year against Washington, blowing it by going for a fourth-and-1 at his own 33-yard line in a tie game with 1:26 left, gift-wrapping field position for the Huskies’ winning field goal. Then he tripled down on dumb this year against Washington, with a trio of fourth-down decisions that all backfired.
