0 Two Plays Away

I can't say that this has ever happened to me before—and this is probably going to sound ridiculous, especially to anyone who is not a fan of sports—but I lost sleep over a college football game last night. And no, it wasn't over a game that took place last night; it was over the Oregon Ducks' loss to the Stanford Cardinal a week ago.

Why that game? Well, because Oregon was two plays away from beating Stanford, securing the number one ranking, and—assuming they went on to beat Oregon State (which they did last night) and UCLA in the Pac-12 title game (which they likely would have)—advancing to the national championship game.

But that's not how it happened, and here are the two plays that cost Oregon the game.

Play 1—The 77-yard run that should have been a 92-yard touchdown run.

Oregon had the ball at their own 8-yard line with the score tied at zero and 6:14 left to play in the first quarter. Marcus Mariota dropped back to pass, surveyed the field, and took off running down the right sideline. The play resulted in a brilliant 77-yard run by Oregon's quarterback and put Oregon in great field position, but it didn't end with a touchdown as it should have. Instead of blocking the last potential tackler, Oregon's DeAnthony Thomas ran out in front of Mariota, apparently failing to see the defender who would eventually take Mariota down at Stanford's 15-yard line.

A simple block on that play would have given Oregon a 7-0 lead and an eventual 21-14 victory. Instead, Oregon's offense failed to convert the fourth-and-one attempt a few plays later and the game remained scoreless.

Play 2—The juggling catch that got ruled a touchdown. 

With 1:44 left to play in the fourth quarter, Stanford's Kevin Hogan threw a pass on first and goal to tight end Zach Ertz, who made a terrific leaping catch over Oregon's Ifo Ekpre-Olomu in the back of the endzone. The pass was originally ruled incomplete—and rightly so, because it was unclear if and when Ertz gained possession of the ball before his helmet and shoulder landed out of bounds.

The ruling on the field usually stands when a play like this is reviewed by the officials in the replay booth, unless, that is, the officials identify "indisputable video evidence" for overturning the call. In this case, they did overturn the call made on the field, ruling the play a touchdown instead of an incomplete pass, which allowed Stanford to tie the game with the ensuing extra point and force overtime.

Now, Stanford may very well have gone on to score with their remaining three downs if the ruling on the field had been upheld, but there was also the possibility that Oregon's defense kept Stanford out of the endzone and held on for a 14-7 victory. Instead, Oregon's offense sputtered in the overtime period, Chip Kelly sent on Oregon's unreliable kicker for a long field goal attempt, the kick bounced off the upright, Stanford scored on their overtime possession, and that was that—no more national championship hopes for the Ducks.

And that's what kept me up last night.