College football fans are hardly lucky when it comes to rematches. But looks like their luck is favored. Dan Lanning’s Oregon Ducks will be facing off against Ryan Day’s Ohio State Buckeyes. Well, last time we all know what happened. The Ducks and the Buckeyes had a neck-to-neck fight on October 12.

But at last, Lanning’s boys could snatch away the victory 32-31. Will this time too Oregon will land a blow on Day’s boys? Lanning has some sly plan to challenge the Buckeyes in the playoffs. But no matter what sly plan the Ducks HC whips up, Day is not compromising with his confidence. 

Dan Lanning’s plan of action before the Ohio State face-off

The last time when the Ducks and the Buckeyes faced off, HC Lanning was able to cast some magic spells at the last minute. His shrewd understanding of rules allowed him to run precious time off and escape with a win. Since then, Oregon has racked up wins after wins. With this, they have made their way to a highly anticipated rematch on New Year’s Day, the Rose Bowl. Even though they got the confirmed ticket to the Bowl, they had to wait to know who their opponents would be. Finally, after Day’s squad earned a commanding 42-17 victory against the Tennessee Volunteers, the Ohio State Buckeyes got their passes to the first round of the College Football Playoff. Since their last face-off, three months have passed. So, it’s obvious that there will be some changes in the prep plan. That’s when Lanning opened up on the Ohio State Football At Buckeye Huddle podcast.

If you think the Oregon HC is focusing only on the Buckeyes’ game plan, then that’s surely not the case. Since the Ducks were enjoying a bye-week, Lanning stated, “Well you got the time to do it so you look at all of it right you look at the history of the team you look at the history of the coordinators.” After they are done with scouting through Ohio State’s history, they will take a look at the coach’s mindset. And what’s the best way to do that?

Of course, the press conference is jewels! Lanning continued, “It gives you a little bit more time to evaluate big picture um you know just coordinator philosophies and then also you know the the original matchup what that looks like and then what they’ve done since so I don’t I don’t think you necessarily focus on one of those things I think you focus on all that.” That’s how Lanning will not follow a one-directional approach when it comes to fortifying their fortress before the Buckeyes attack. So, now is Day scared?

What makes Dan Lanning take Ryan Day’s program seriously?

With a dominant win over Josh Heupel’s Vols, Day is now flying high with confidence. In the build-up to the Rose Bowl, the Ohio State HC sounded very assertive about making an appearance in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff. Day stated, “You could feel the confidence in the locker room…we had our team mean team meetings, identify the champions, watched the film from the game…The issues are always there, but there was just an overall balance and confidence about the group coming off the game.” 

Now that’s something that was not expected from the Ohio State HC. We know how Day’s HC seat got hotter with every passing day after losing against Lanning’s Oregon and Sherrone Moore’s Michigan Wolverines. Ohio State’s history does not promise something positive for Day. 

Analyst Albert Breer took the example of the former Buckeyes HC John Cooper who underwent a poor fate. He said, “I was there when John Cooper was fired…it was really because they weren’t winning at the same clip that they had been winning at before and there was the Michigan problem.” Even amidst such pressure Ryan Day helped the Buckeyes crush Tennessee. They scored 21 straight points to open the first quarter, which has been truly recommendable! So, Dan Lanning better leave no chapter untouched in the Ohio State playbook.