“Anyone have a heart rate monitor?” Dan Lanning joked with the reporters after his narrow victory over the Buckeyes in the most anticipated clash of week 7. His team is one of the undefeated teams in college football so far. Last Saturday, fans witnessed a thrilling game; Ryan Day’s team, the Ohio State Buckeyes, lost by one point. Did you expect that? We are sure no one did. But Lanning and his staff had plans to stop the Buckeyes from registering their sixth victory of the season.

They say everything is fair in love and war, and college football is getting intense week after week. Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Oregon Ducks: Was it really a war? However, Ryan Day’s record against top-five teams dropped to 1-7 after the Buckeyes lost 31-32 to Oregon. Many people appreciate Lanning’s strategy, while some are calling out the NCAA for the weird rule that allowed this thing to happen. Former Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer is just amazed that something like this could happen.

The Triple Option podcast, hosted by Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram II, and Rob Stone, discussed the Week 7 game. Meyer was shocked when he learned that Lanning intentionally placed 12 players on the field in the final minute to draw a live-ball penalty. Meyer highlighted that in his 38-year career, the idea never occurred to his mind. “I guess I do want to know if that’s true. Then, for 38 years of my career, I’ve been playing checkers. Yeah, a lot of I never, I never even that. I’ll be honest; this never even crossed my mind.”

The former coach further expressed his confusion and referred to the key players on Buckeyes teams to verbalize how crazy is it for the Ducks to even think of this.

“And I’m just trying to think over the headset, Mark; you know how nuts it is. The sideline is chaos. And they said, All right, I mean, you have Jeremiah Smith; you have an Emeka.” He further expressed his amazement and added, “I mean, they’re 12 yards away from kicking a game-winning field goal, and we’re going to give them five more yards. And someone says, Hey, run the timeout or run the 12-man plan by going, wait, what in that…I am a checkers guy than.”

However, there was more to that game than that single play. The game was won by the brilliance of the Ducks’ QB. Let us take you through that.

Quarterback Dillon Gabriel leads Oregon to victory with key touchdowns

Like his head coach, quarterback Dillon Gabriel has also been in the headlines since last Saturday. He stepped in at the right moment by throwing a touchdown pass and adding another rushing touchdown, which helped his team secure their straight sixth victory over No. 2 Ohio State. The former Oklahoma player completed 23 out of 34 passes for 341 yards and rushed for 32 yards on four carries. His contribution was very important in helping Oregon maintain its undefeated record in 2024.

ESPN reported head coach Dan Lanning’s statements after the game, where he expressed his thoughts about the Quarterback’s calm personality. “Every time I went and looked into his eyes tonight, I saw a guy who was composed and ready for his next moment,” Lanning said.

“He played really, really well tonight in some really big moments.” Ryan Day’s team tried their best and did not lose hope till the fourth quarter. Jordan James rushed for 115 yards and also scored a touchdown for his team. Autzen Stadium was filled with around 61,128 fans, and they literally witnessed one of the thrilling performances.

What’s next for both teams? Well, the Buckeyes have a bye week and will face Matt Rhule’s Nebraska in Week 9. Dan Lanning’s boys will go against a depleted Purdue (1-5), an easy matchup on the paper, but as we have seen this season, nothing comes easy in college football!