Dante Moore or Dylan Raiola? Oregon's Dan Lanning has uncomfortable quarterback decision
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Dylan Raiola was talking about his close friendship with Dante Moore, and how he has grown as a player and a person because of it.
Then, with or without intent, said the undeniable that could soon become the unavoidable at Oregon.
“Whoever goes down, the game of football doesn’t feel sorry for us,” Raiola said.
The game moves on every week. No matter the circumstance, no matter the consequence.
Because more than anything, the competitive foundation of the game is simple: which player gives us the best chance to win?
Like it or not, Ducks coach Dan Lanning is now dealing with that very question. Which of his two talented quarterbacks gives Oregon its best chance to get back in the College Football Playoff race?
Moore, who ignored the NFL and returned to Oregon this season despite a draft grade that had him among the top five overall selections? Or Raiola, the one-time No.1 high school quarterback who left two tumultuous seasons at Nebraska and was content to sit and wait behind Moore?
We still don’t know the extent of Moore’s injuries, or how a concussion sustained last weekend against Southern California could affect his ability to return. The Ducks don’t play again until Oct. 10, when they host white-hot UCLA.
But if both quarterbacks are ready to play in two weeks, and if Lanning has to make a decision, it may not be as simple as it sounds.
Moore and the offense looked uneven in a near loss to Boise State to start the season, and he completed less than 50 percent of his passes a week later in a loss to Oklahoma State. He left the USC game with 10 minutes to play in the second quarter, and the Ducks trailing 7-3.
From that point, Oregon outscored USC 38-20 and Raiola played flawlessly. He completed 19-of-25 passes for 289 yards and two touchdowns, and more to the point, the Oregon offense looked the best it has all season.
It wasn’t clunky, wasn’t misfiring and muddled like it was at Oklahoma State. Forget about the 84 points scored against a glorified high school team in Week 3, there were genuine concerns over operational efficiency.
The Ducks played too well on the road in a big game under Raiola, and the offense looked too prolific, to simply ignore it — or worse, credit the performance to an emotionally-charged team playing at its ceiling because of the injury to Moore.
There’s nothing easy about this decision, in part, because the loss to Oklahoma State may have eliminated wiggle room for the remainder of the season. Can Oregon sustain another loss and return to the CFP?
“Let’s just be honest, we’re not remotely close to what we need to be,” Lanning said of the entire team. “We’re not remotely close.”
This isn’t the simple decision Mississippi faced last season, when first-year starter Austin Simmons sustained an ankle injury in the season opener and was replaced by Trinidad Chambliss. That move was based on performance, but would’ve been a more difficult decision for then-Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin if Jaxson Dart had been the inured incumbent starter.
Simmons’ resume as a starter was a couple of quarters, and a drive against Georgia in 2024. Moore’s road to Oregon, and his play last year in leading the Ducks to the CFP semifinals, is the obvious hesitation in any potential move to Raiola.
It’s easy to say when Moore is healthy, he’s the starter. But that’s ignoring what played out to begin the season, and to a greater extent, minimizing that Raiola finally played to his five-star potential because Oregon had the pieces in place around him — and Nebraska didn’t.
“Seeing (Moore) like that just shook the whole team,” Raiola said of Moore’s injury. “How much he means to me, how much he means to this team.”
The game of football doesn’t feel sorry for anyone. No matter the circumstance, no matter the consequence.
No matter how difficult the decision.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB. Listen to him daily, from 12-2 p.m., on 1010XL-Jacksonville.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dante Moore or Dylan Raiola? Oregon's Dan Lanning has uncomfortable quarterback decision
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