Canzano: Oregon Ducks paint masterpiece on Penn State's canvas
Ducks win in double-overtime thriller.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The crowd thundered. The music thumped. A pyrotechnic crew launched fireworks from the rooftop of Beaver Stadium, and 111,015 souls dressed in mostly white sucked air into their lungs and screamed until their throats were raw.
What did you do on Saturday night?
What will you remember about it?
I watched the Oregon Ducks paint a competitive masterpiece in a resilient, 30-24, double-overtime victory. It was a classic. And Dan Lanning’s glassy eyes stole the show for me.
All everyone said all week was how distracting and menacing the “White Out” game environment was at Beaver Stadium. They spoke about Penn State’s annual football costume party like it was a living, breathing thing — and let me tell you, it really was something.
So was the Nittany Lions’ defense.
It hit like a bag of bricks.
“This is a fight,” Lanning crowed into a microphone on his way to the locker room, tied, 3-3, at halftime. “We’ve made small cuts, but eventually we’re gonna hit an artery.”
The guy had never been a head football coach when he was hired by Oregon a week after Mario Cristobal left Eugene for Miami.
Oregon?
A stepping-stone program?
Lanning and the Ducks stomped all over that narrative on Saturday night, passing an unforgettable road test and dancing off winners in the most hostile environment in the land. UO remains undefeated all-time in Big Ten Conference play.
Wrap your head around this:
• Nine straight road victories.
• 30-3 since the start of the 2023 season.
• The nation’s longest active regular-season winning streak (23 games).
Two fairly even college football teams played four quarters and two overtimes. The Ducks and Nittany Lions looked like they might trade haymakers through the night, right up until Dillon Thieneman intercepted quarterback Drew Allar to seal the victory on the game’s final play.
Before Lanning disappeared into the stadium tunnel to the locker room, he hugged quarterback Dante Moore, who was crying on a knee on the field. Then, Oregon’s coach made his way over to the UO fans hanging over the railing and slapped hands and celebrated.
Oregon’s coach looked like he’d just been elected mayor of Happy Valley.
Penn State coach James Franklin looked sick about it.
“I feel for that team in the other locker room, because they busted their ass,” Lanning said later. “We’re probably going to see them again.”
One guy’s offense scores a TD on the final possession, and the head coach gets to go home, hugging and grinning. The other guy gets pocket lint and cries for his job from the fan base. That’s how it works, I guess.
These teams could easily meet again in the College Football Playoff or conference title game, but what the world witnessed on Saturday was a signature moment for Lanning’s program and another low for Franklin, who looks cursed.
In the middle of the first quarter, I walked out onto an observation deck on the seventh floor of the stadium and looked down at the stadium bowl below. I can’t decide if the scene looked more like a blank canvas, waiting to be painted, or a giant wok brimming with rice grains, and not nearly enough greens.
Either way, it was mind-bending.
Over my shoulder, on the backside of the stadium, were the parking lots. Essentially, an ocean of RVs, cars, flags, canopies, and left-behind folding tables and cornhole games. The lots stretch all the way to the nearby dairy farms, looping over rolling hills and wrapping around the stadium like a giant blanket.
Oregon overcame the scene, and beat Penn State for the second straight season. It wasn’t just that the Ducks won, it was how — and where — it went down.
Everyone’s going to remember the 25-yard double-overtime TD pass from Moore to Gary Bryant Jr., or maybe the game-ending interception. But what I’ll leave the stadium thinking about is how topsy-turvy it all felt.
Also, Lanning’s raw emotion.
Oregon was in complete command, up 17-3, somehow lost its grip on the game, looked like toast in the first overtime, but kept its composure, fought back, and overcame it all to win.
“Our team?” Lanning said.
“Special, man. Special.”
The glassy eyes said it all.
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Trading out Cristobal for Lanning is one of the best things that’s happened to Oregon in a long time. This state is very lucky to have a coach like that leading its team.
ESecPN got all dressed in white for the Gameday show to predict a Penn State Win, and then buried the Ducks' win on their website. Few thought the Ducks would win, Yet by the stats, the Ducks outplayed Penn State in every category, even though the final score didn't suggest that. What is all the more amazing is the maturity of this young team- seemingly unfazed by the supposed "one-score advantage" of the White Out. That's all we heard about from the prognosticators. The Ducks weren't listening. Freshmen played like seasoned veterans, not first year players. And any questions about Dante Moore and Oregon's O and D lines got answered by "wow." This team is for real. Enjoy your bye-week, Ducks. You earned it!!