In Reply to: One Coaching Mistake posted by andyH on October 10, 2026 at 21:20:49
... except I also think a little further motivation for Oregon doing that was, there was a slight chance the refs would call a false start on UCLA.
The false start rule, it seems to me, is very unevenly enforced. Well-coached offenses teach their guards and tackles to make a habit of bouncing and shifting around in the lead-up to the snap. Ideally, they stop that sufficiently before the snap to not be hit with a false start penalty. But from what I've seen, lots of times the guys who are allowed to do that (by the grace of the refs) sometimes get away with movements right up to the moment of the snap -- which should draw a penalty. Southern Cal's 2026 right offensive tackle is a particualry egregious offender. Stanford's OL, back in the cardinal's glory days, used to get away with this to a ridiculous extent.
Anyway, I see a lot of presnap swayin' and jukin' from the 2026 UCLA O line. Good coaching -- as long as the refs allow it. But, if you do that too much (esp. if playing in a noisy road stadium) you just might get hit with a false start penalty, seemingly out of nowhere. Oregon may have been hoping to "force the hand" of the linesman on that presnap. Fortunately, in this instance no one among our OLmen moved even close to late, so no false start penalty.
Oregon's coach Lanning prides himself on thinking outside the box to occasionally gain a late-game edge.