No. 8 Oregon was 0-for-3 on fourth down in its 36-33 loss at No. 7 Washington on Saturday, and afterward Dan Lanning took the blame for all three decisions and, in turn, the game.
"I think this game is 100 percent on me. I don't think you guys got to look anywhere else beside me," he said.
All three situations were 4th-and-3, and all three ended with Bo Nix incomplete passes.
The first came on the final play of the first half. Trailing 22-18, Lanning went for a 4th-and-goal rather than kick what would've essentially been an extra point.
"We felt that was an opportunity for us to get a touchdown," Lanning said. "A touchdown changes the game; we're probably not talking about it if we get a touchdown. The one before half is the one where you can say, let's take a field goal. It's something I'm going to assess."
Lanning would later say not kicking there was his most regrettable, and second-guessable, decision.
After Washington opened its lead to 29-18 in the third quarter, Lanning went for another 4th-and-3, this time from the Oregon 8. Nix's pass to Troy Fanklin was incomplete.
However, the Oregon defense forced a backed-up Washington offense to punt, and Oregon scored three plays later to cut the lead to 29-26. The Ducks then forced another three-and-out, then went 80 yards in six plays to take a 33-29 lead with 12:58 remaining.
Oregon's defense then registered its own fourth down stop, stuffing Tybo Rogers for a loss on 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard line.
Taking over with 6:15 to play, Oregon moved off its goal line to midfield. On a 2nd-and-10, Bucky Irving rushed for eight yards to set up a 3rd-and-2 at the Huskies' 46. Jordan James then lost a yard. On 4th-and-3, Nix rolled left (he's better rolling right) and threw incomplete to Tez Johnson.
Lanning said the reward of essentially ending the game with a first down was worth the risk of handing the Huskies the ball at midfield, especially since Washington was capable of scoring from anywhere on the field.
"They're an explosive offense. We don't necessarily know in them from 75 yards compared to 50 yards with the ability they have to put the ball down the field. We just felt like it was more advantageous to be able to close the game out. Going back you don't want to take the negative play on third down," he said.
Washington scored in two plays and 33 seconds, which then allowed Oregon a chance to tie the game with a field goal or win with a touchdown -- and plenty of time to do so. Starting at their own 25 with 1:16 to play, Oregon moved to the Washington 25 but could not push further, and Camden Lewis's 43-yard field goal at the buzzer was wide right.
Lanning said Oregon had a timeout available before all three fourth downs, which the staff would've used if they didn't like the pre-snap alignment; but each time they felt like their play call was a good one.
"If you kick the field goal before half, kick the field goal somewhere else, it could have been a different result," he said. "You never know how the rest of the game is going to play out, so you make those decisions based on the information you have."