Oregon entered this season ranked No. 2 in the country with a quarterback who passed on being a likely top-10 NFL pick to come back for one more run. On Monday, Dan Lanning made it official that the run is over.
“I’m not anticipating him being back, no,” Lanning said of Dante Moore at his weekly news conference.
Moore hasn’t played since Sept. 26, when he took a late hit to the head from USC linebacker Desman Stephens II while sliding and left in an ambulance for evaluation. He got back on the practice field earlier this month but never cleared concussion protocol. Lanning was clear that this one wasn’t a coaching call or a player call.
“But unfortunately, it’s not really up to Dante. It’s not really up to me,” Lanning said.
He also said Moore will be “a big part of this team” the rest of the way, which apparently includes running the scout team. “We’re getting one of the best scout team looks every single week in practice, and he looks good out there,” Lanning said. That’s a heck of a scout team quarterback. Somewhere a Northwestern defensive coordinator is very glad that guy only plays on Tuesdays.
Four games was all he got
Moore was rolling before the injury: 69.7 percent completions, 926 yards, nine touchdowns and zero interceptions in four games. Last year he threw for 3,565 yards with 30 touchdowns and 10 picks and made third-team All-Big Ten. He was a Heisman candidate in August. The hit at USC changed all of it, and the good news, per Lanning, is that Moore is expected to make a full recovery. That matters more than any of the football stuff.
Without him, the Ducks have been a quarterback carousel with a fight song. Dylan Raiola came in against USC and threw for 289 yards and two scores in a 41-27 win. The next week he went 6 of 19 for 43 yards with two interceptions in a 17-15 loss to UCLA. Oregon tried its third-stringer against Nebraska, then went back to Raiola, who saved a 17-14 win with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Jamari Johnson with 28 seconds left. Saturday at Illinois, Raiola went 27 of 41 for 246 yards and Oregon lost 21-10.
Lanning didn’t sugarcoat the position group. “We haven’t been a very good quarterback room consistently at the start of games,” he said.
The Illinois loss cost offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer his job on Sunday, and it left Oregon at 4-3 overall, 2-2 in the Big Ten, and outside the top 25.
What’s next for Moore and the Ducks
Under the NCAA’s five-year eligibility policy, Moore could come back to college football in 2027 instead of heading to the NFL. Lanning wasn’t going there. “That’s not fair for me to say or speculate,” he said when asked about Moore’s future, adding that Moore will make that call after the season.
In the meantime, Oregon hosts No. 20 Northwestern on Saturday. Read that sentence again if you were in a coma for the first half of the season. Northwestern is ranked and Oregon is the team trying to play spoiler.
This is the Big Ten right now. Indiana knocked Oregon out of the playoff last year and the league has won the last three national titles, but week to week it’ll eat its own. One concussion and one bad offensive month turned a preseason No. 2 into a team trying to salvage a bowl trip. College football doesn’t wait for anybody, and that’s exactly why we love it.