Turns out, Dan Lanning was playing chess on Saturday night.

The Ohio State Buckeyes had just been knocked out of field goal range after an offensive pass interference penalty. Two plays later, they had 10 seconds on a 3rd and 25. 

That’s when the Oregon head coach sneakily took a gamble.

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Will Howard’s next pass fell incomplete, but the Ducks were called for an illegal substitution. They had a 12th man on the field, to which Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day desperately wanted to be called at the time.

The speculation, though, was that the illegal substitution was a strategic gamble with odds very much in Lanning’s favor: Get penalized a measly five yards in order to not give up the big play and waste nearly half the time remaining in the game.

On the next play, Howard was unable to slide in time for them to call a timeout, giving the Ducks the win.

Lanning all but admitted that the speculation was accurate.

“There was a timeout before that — we spend an inordinate amount of time on situations. There’s some situations that don’t show up very often in college football, but this is one that obviously was something we had worked on. So you can see the result,” Lanning said sneakily on Monday.

Well, the NCAA was apparently quick to realize the loophole, and Yahoo Sports reported that the NCAA is considering a change to the rule.

Head coach Dan Lanning of the Oregon Ducks reacts toward Dillon Gabriel #8 scoring a touchdown during the fourth quarter of the game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Autzen Stadium on October 12, 2024 in Eugene, Oregon. (Alika Jenner/Getty Images)

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“We’ve had good dialogue on this play,” NCAA secretary rules editor Steve Shaw told Yahoo Sports. “We’ve recognized the way it played out.”

In the National Football League, the clock reverts back to the original time on a 12-man penalty — that is not the case in college football.

Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning congratulates players after defeating the Utah Utes at Rice-Eccles Stadium.  (Christopher Creveling-USA TODAY Sports)

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The win put the Ducks at No. 2 in the country, their highest ranking since making the national championship game in 2015.

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The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that voters with disabilities cannot have their designees deliver their ballots to drop boxes

A divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled that individuals can’t use drop boxes when delivering ballots for voters with disabilities. Instead, they must go inside the county board of elections and fill out a form.

The Ohio Democratic Party and two voters filed a lawsuit challenging Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s directive that required individuals delivering ballots for voters with disabilities to fill out a form at a county board of elections during business hours. This rule prevented them from using drop boxes stationed outside the county boards of elections.

LaRose’s directive came after a federal judge ruled in July that Ohio’s election law violated the rights of people with disabilities by limiting who could drop off their ballots. LaRose said the rules are needed to prevent ballot harvesting, which is when a third party collects and returns multiple ballots.

Democrats argued that LaRose’s rule made it harder for individuals with disabilities to vote by removing the drop box option. But the Ohio Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, ruled that Democrats waited too long to make their legal argument.

“As a general matter, courts should refrain from ordering changes to the rules governing elections during or close to the start of an election,” according to the majority’s opinion, joined by Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy, Justices Pat Fischer and Pat DeWine and Judge Stephen Powell, of the Twelfth District Court of Appeals.

The majority worried about confusing election officials and voters. “(W)e will not endorse a scenario in which boards of elections send voters incorrect instructions and unavoidably create voter confusion.”

Democratic Justice Jennifer Brunner dissented, writing that LaRose had overreached.

“Good judgment by this court would be to tell the secretary that he has violated his constitutional duties rather than followed them,” wrote Brunner in a decision joined by Judge Pierre Bergeron of the First District Court of Appeals and Judge J. William B. Hoffman of the Fifth District Court of Appeals.

Bergeron, who was filling in, wrote that LaRose’s directive would disenfranchise some of Ohio’s most vulnerable voters. “That is a travesty beyond description,” he wrote. “The directive issued by Secretary LaRose, and the decision by the majority allowing it to persist, sends the message that marginalized citizens may be safely relegated to the sidelines in our democracy.”

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Three justices running for election this year, Democrats Michael Donnelly and Melody Stewart and Republican Joe Deters, recused themselves from reviewing the case.

Read the decision here:

Jessie Balmert covers state government and politics for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – A north steering wind is driving good coverage of lake effect rain and storms. Travel will be slow today with some of this rain heavy at times. Be prepared for standing water. Afternoon temperatures will be only around 50 degrees. The wind picks up later this afternoon and evening out of the north at 10-20 mph.

A blustery night ahead with scattered showers and storms.

It remains chilly tomorrow with temperatures reaching around 50 degrees again. We will keep scattered lake effect showers in the forecast.

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