Dan Lanning and Billy Napier had 12 guys on the field. One is a genius; one is not.

While most Florida Football fans were directing their frustration at Billy Napier on Saturday night and/or were dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, a significant number of Gator fans missed a memorable game between Oregon and Ohio State. The Ducks emerged victorious with a 32-21 scoreline, a game that saw Ohio State run out of time in a chaotic finish while attempting to set up a game-winning field goal.

However, the gamesmanship involved in forcing Ohio State to run out of time represents Dan Lanning playing chess while Napier is stuck playing Chutes and Ladders.

Florida Football: Kids Games

With 10 seconds left on the clock, Ohio State had the ball on the Oregon 43-yard line and was down by one point. Will Howard threw an incomplete pass, but Oregon was flagged for having 12 men on the field.

This advanced the ball five yards but also took four seconds off the clock. With six seconds left, Howard wound up scrambling for 12 yards but time expired as he slid and the game ended with the ball on the 26 yard line and a timeout in Ohio State's back pocket.

People wondered out loud whether or not Oregon having 12 guys on the field was intentional or not as it felt like it could have been a bit of gamesmanship to force time off the clock.

Lanning confirmed yesterday that 12 guys on the field was intentional:

"We spend an inordinate amount of time on situations and some situations don't come up very often in college football, but this was obviously something we had worked on. You can see the result."

Compare that to Napier, who also sent 12 guys on the field as time ticked down in the first half against Tennessee. Trey Smack kicked a field goal at the buzzer, but because the Gators had too many players, the kick didn't count, and the ten-second run-off meant the half was over with zero points.

On that sequence, Napier said:

"It was relative to an injury, just to be cut and dry. It was a substitution error based on an injured player who stayed on the field. Yeah, that's exactly what it was. The injured player that had been substituted on that unit did not come off. He stayed."

Checkers, Not Chess

The continued problem for Napier is that because he is so systematic, he malfunctions when anything happens that deviates from his system. He has the adaptability of a three-year-old who can't comprehend why we have to take a different route to get somewhere because the main route is blocked by a tree.

The end result is a complete inability to think outside the box and deviate from his scripted plan.

It's the same process that led to more than just 12 guys on the field. Napier claimed he was going to go for two at the end of the game, but once Tennessee called timeout. Rather than adapt, Napier didn't know what else to do but kick an extra point.

One college football coach played chess on Saturday while the other played Go Fish.

One coach is forcing the NCAA to already explore closing a loophole while the other still has the backdrop of an NCAA investigation.

One coach won while the other is 14-17.