Curious fourth-down decisions doom No. 8 Oregon in loss to No. 7 Washington

The Oregon Ducks and head coach Dan Lanning may not have been fighting for clicks Saturday against No. 7 Washington, but they'll get plenty of them over the coming days for all the wrong reasons. 

In a textbook case of finding a way to beat yourself, the No. 8-ranked Ducks fell to the Huskies by three points, 36-33, in a game where Orgeon passed up not one but two field goal attempts.  

The first turning point of Saturday's contest occurred at the end of the first half. With six seconds left in the second quarter, Oregon failed to convert on third-and-goal from the Washington three-yard-line. Lanning chose to be aggressive and go for it on fourth down, but the attempt failed, and Oregon went into the half trailing Washington by four points (22-18) instead of one. 

Two possessions later, Lanning took the risk again inside the red zone. This time, Oregon failed on fourth-and-goal from the Washington eight-yard-line, and the Huskies retained a two-score lead (29-18). 

Despite leaving points on the field several times, Oregon rallied to take a 33-29 lead late in the third quarter. After the Oregon defense forced a Washington turnover-on-downs on the ensuing possession, Lanning decided to go for the knockout blow. 

Undeterred by his team's previous letdowns, Lanning went for it on fourth-and-three from the Washington 47-yard-line. Instead of punting the football and potentially pinning the Huskies back in their own end, still needing three points to tie, another failed fourth-down attempt gave them ideal field position near midfield. Two plays later, Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. found wideout Rome Odunze for the go-ahead touchdown from 18 yards out. 

Oregon did have a chance to equal the score as time expired, but a 43-yard attempt from Camden Lewis went wide-right, sealing the win for Washington. 

The always outspoken Lanning told reporters he understood his decisions would be "second-guessed" and took all the blame after the brutal loss. 

"I think this game is 100 percent on me," Lanning said via Jarrid Denney of On3Sports. "You don't have to look anywhere else besides me." 

Lanning believes strongly in his players, which isn't a bad thing. However, there's a fine line between confidence and smarts. On Saturday, Lanning let one overtake the other one too many times.