Ten days ago, Dante Moore was being taken away from the Coliseum in an ambulance. On Monday, the Oregon quarterback was back on the practice field throwing passes in a helmet and shoulder pads as Dan Lanning gave an update after the frightening injury. But with No. 13 Oregon preparing to face No. 21 UCLA on October 10, Moore’s return to practice comes at a crucial time.
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Moore went down in the second quarter at USC with just over 10 minutes left. He slid at the end of an 11-yard scramble, and linebacker Desman Stephens II hit him in the head. Moore went into the fencing response, was down for a while, and was later taken to the LA General Medical Center. The MRI and CT scans were clean, with the diagnosis ending with a concussion. During a press conference, Lanning provided an update about Moore and how Oregon is planning to go ahead.
“Dante was out there with practice for us today,” Lanning said, according to an X post by Scoop Duck’s Nate Bishop. “Again, similar to what we said before, we’re going to continue to make sure we do what’s best for Dante’s move forward. And obviously we’ll have an injury report that’s released later on this week that will kind of detail what that looks like.”
“But it was great to see him back out there with his teammates and able to get a little work in today. He’s wearing a helmet and shoulder pads today, and out there throwing the football.”
Lanning did not say where Moore is in the protocol or whether he starts on Saturday. On the other hand, Raiola took over at USC and went 19-of-25 for 289 yards and two touchdowns, as Oregon went on to win 41-27.
The Ducks are 3-1 and 1-0 in the Big Ten, and they used their Week 5 bye to give Moore some time to recover. Meanwhile, Raiola is more than ready as he is a veteran who has started for Nebraska in 2024 and 2025 and threw for 4,819 yards and 31 touchdowns in 22 games.
On the other hand, Moore has posted 69-of-99 (69.7% completions) for 926 yards and nine touchdowns with no interceptions. He threw for 378 yards against Boise State, 191 in the loss at Oklahoma State and 280 in the 84-0 win over Portland State. It will be Lanning’s call if he wants to bring Moore back immediately or stick with Raiola.
Moore did show loyalty to the program when he came back for 2026 with the Ducks instead of entering the draft, after the Ducks lost 56-22 to Indiana in last year’s Peach Bowl.
Two days after he went down, Moore gave an update on Instagram (on Sept. 28) about his recovery, mentioning, “Through all of your prayers I have made progress.” He further added, “I can only worry about today… I’ll be back soon. Go Ducks!”
Though his status is yet to be confirmed, as Lanning mentioned, the offense is trying to work beyond Moore, as Raiola did show some skill earlier when he went 11-of-11 for 124 yards and three touchdowns against Portland State. Lanning wants the same consistency for the backup quarterback, as Oregon will open as a 11.5-point favorite over UCLA.
UCLA’s Bob Chesney reached out right after the USC game
Bob Chesney is 4-0 in his first year at UCLA after a 54-3 win at Maryland, where the Bruins ran for 266 yards. Chesney came over from James Madison, and his history with Dan Lanning’s Ducks involves them beating his old team 51-34 in last year’s playoff opener.
Chesney texted Lanning on September 26 while UCLA was flying home. He offered to go check on Moore in Los Angeles and said he wanted to offer support for the young quarterback who could be left behind alone without his teammates around.
“I just wanted to make sure if he needed anything, that he knew I was there,” Chesney said, according to an X post by Ira Gorawara. “Even if it was just a stopover real quick, make sure there’s someone in the football world to say hi, that’s what I wanted to be able to do.”
Oregon hosts UCLA at Autzen Stadium on October 10, with the Bruins leading the Big Ten at 281.5 rushing yards per game. Now, whoever starts at quarterback for the Ducks, there is not a giant drop-off between the two. With the Big Ten availability coming out on Wednesday night, Moore’s status could remain open until close to kickoff.