Michael Cohen
College Football and College Basketball Writer
Though there were countless highlights to choose from during Oregon’s 66-point demolition of Oklahoma State last weekend, a game in which the Ducks secured their largest-ever margin of victory over a Power 4 opponent, the one that set social media ablaze began with a free rusher bearing down on quarterback Dante Moore.
Uncertain whether his tailback, Noah Whittington, could slide over in time to pick up the blitzing linebacker, Moore instinctively spun to his right and rolled outside the pocket toward the hashmarks. Then, he set his feet, squared his shoulders and held his follow-through like a 3-point shooter while lofting a perfect pass down the sideline toward true freshman wide receiver Dakorien Moore, the five-star phenom and No. 1 recruit in the country at his position, a title that previously belonged to Ohio State standout Jeremiah Smith.
From there, Dakorien Moore, who caught the ball some 37 yards downfield, shimmied back over the middle — at which point he forced two flailing defenders to collide — and raced diagonally into the end zone for a breathtaking touchdown, the first of his highly anticipated collegiate career. It was a thing of beauty from one Moore to another.
“He’s an elite passer,” Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein told me when discussing Dante Moore in a recent phone conversation, “and there are certain things I can’t teach. God gave him the ability to throw the ball when he was born, and we try to capitalize on his skill sets with our passing game and with our approach every single game.”
Having inherited the starting job from Dillon Gabriel, whose one-year stint with the Ducks produced an undefeated regular season and the first Big Ten championship in school history, Moore is now the maestro for what appears to be one of the sport’s most diverse and explosive offenses. In winning its first two games by a combined score of 128-16, which is currently the largest point differential in college football, Oregon has filleted opponents with 18 total touchdowns and an average gain of more than 9 yards per play.
Five different Oregon players have already found the end zone as runners this season, including Dakorien Moore on a lovely 25-yard end around against Oklahoma State, and four different pass catchers have hauled in scores from the team’s burgeoning Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback.
The stunning breadth of Oregon’s attack, which will be on display Saturday when the fourth-ranked Ducks visit Northwestern for “Big Noon Saturday” (Saturday, noon ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app), reflects a new identity that runs in contrast to last year’s more star-centric approach. Gone is leading tailback Jordan James, a fifth-round pick by the San Francisco 49ers, whose tally of 1,267 rushing yards was more than double that of his closest teammate. Gone, too, are dominant wide receiver Tez Johnson, a seventh-round pick by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and elite tight end Terrance Ferguson, a second-round pick by the Los Angeles Rams, whose totals of 83 catches and 43 catches, respectively, dwarfed everyone else at their positions.
Dante Moore #5 has helped guide Oregon to a 2-0 start this season. (Photo by Robin Alam/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
This year’s version of the Ducks’ offense, which certainly looks good enough for the Ducks to be in contention for a national championship, is invoking a far more balanced approach.
“As a quarterback,” Moore told me in a recent phone conversation, “it’s kind of like the point guard on the basketball court. Just helping make sure that everything is running the right way and making sure that I’m giving the ball to the playmakers.”
It’s a role that Moore is performing exceptionally well with 479 passing yards, six touchdowns and a completion rate of 77.3% that fits nicely between the marks established by Gabriel (72.8%) and predecessor Bo Nix (77.9%) during the last two campaigns. Now a redshirt sophomore, Moore was originally committed to Oregon from July 8, 2022, through early December that same year, a stretch that overlapped with his senior season at Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School in Detroit, where he developed into a five-star recruit and the No. 4 overall prospect in the country. But Moore flipped his pledge during the early signing period and wound up enrolling at UCLA, ultimately making five starts as a true freshman for former head coach Chip Kelly with decidedly mixed results. He entered the transfer portal on Dec. 4, 2023, and recommitted to Oregon shortly before Christmas.
Since then, Stein told me, Moore has done nothing but seek opportunities for growth and development without so much as a whimper for additional playing time. Not when Gabriel’s arrival all but assured that he’d be a backup in 2024. Not this past spring and summer when head coach Dan Lanning, ever the competitor, declined to publicly name a starter in the battle between Moore and Austin Novosad, a former four-star recruit, prior to the team’s opener against Montana State.
But once Moore got his chance, there’s no denying how much he’s sizzled in his first two starts: He has yet to register a turnover-worthy play so far this season, according to Pro Football Focus, and he has an average release time of just 2.6 seconds.
When taken together, those statistics suggest Moore is playing with an enviable blend of accuracy and decisiveness that helps explain why Oregon’s skill players have already amassed more than 300 yards after the catch. He’s placing the ball exactly where it needs to be to maximize production.
“Some guys just have that ‘it’ factor and that ability to put the ball in certain places that other people might not be able to,” Stein told me. “I think what Dante does such a good job of is just calmness inside the confines of a pocket and being able to anticipate throws.”
Said Moore: “I want to make sure it’s easiest for them to catch and run with the ball. As a quarterback, it’s important that you are very precise with your location of where you’re putting the football on the receiver’s body. It’s [about] protecting the football and not causing turnovers. But we have a lot of great playmakers, so really [I’m just] giving them a chance and throwing the ball anywhere in the area. They’ll make sure they go get it for you.”
That includes fast-developing household names like tight end Kenyon Sadiq, who has three catches for 60 yards and a touchdown and could be an early-round pick in next year’s NFL Draft. It includes budding stars like Dakorien Moore, who snagged three passes for 26 yards in a relatively quiet debut against Montana State — aside from his spectacular hurdle of a defender along the sideline — before exploding to score one touchdown each as a runner and a receiver last week. And it includes veteran journeymen like former Alabama/Florida State wideout Malik Benson and former USC receiver Gary Bryant Jr., both of whom are tied for the team lead in receptions (seven) and receiving touchdowns (two) after waiting patiently behind multiple future pros for the chance to earn more prominent roles.
The ballast has come from a rushing attack that shredded Oregon’s first two opponents for 565 yards and 10 touchdowns combined — seismic totals that rank eighth in the country and second in the country, respectively. The Ducks’ seven carries of 20-plus yards belong to three different running backs, one wide receiver and one backup quarterback, with Texas Tech being the only Power 4 team that can match Oregon’s number of explosive runs. All of which is made possible by a rebuilt offensive line that has only surrendered three tackles for loss and has yet to allow a sack despite introducing three plug-and-play starters from the transfer portal, including both offensive tackles.
“That also goes back to the leadership that we have on our team,” Lanning said. “Of veterans, of those guys being able to see what it looks like, how they have to prepare and then good evaluation, good development of those guys, putting them in position to go play. So it’s a credit to our coaches and our players.”
Dan Lanning owns a 37-6 record during his time as the head coach at Oregon. (Photo by Ali Gradischer/Getty Images)
By the time Lanning sat for his weekly news conference on Monday, two days removed from the Ducks’ shellacking of Oklahoma State, he had some numbers of his own to share. Eighty-one players had gotten on the field against the Cowboys, Lanning said, and a staggering 19 of them had touched the ball. Eight different offensive players scored touchdowns, much to Moore’s delight.
It’s hard to imagine another quarterback with a deeper supporting cast.
“We have a lot of good players,” Stein told me, “and I think when your quarterback is playing well and finding different people on the field, that helps, too, you know? So I think we’ve done a great job as a staff this season — probably more than ever — of making sure we have the right guys on the field for the particular plays that we’re running and trying to showcase their abilities.”
Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. Follow him @Michael_Cohen13.
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