The Oregon Ducks have a sole loss this season, and it came at the hands of the No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers. Not only that, the loss literally put Oregon out of the top three and knocked Dante Moore out of the Heisman race. Since then, Dante Moore has come a long way, and head coach Dan Lanning is cashing in on Moore’s growth ahead of the rematch.

On January 3rd, Ducks head coach Dan Lanning spoke at the Peach Bowl press conference and explained what makes this matchup different for Dante Moore compared to the first meeting. It comes down to one thing: experience.

“Experience. You know, experience. You gotta remember when we played earlier in the season. Dante hadn’t played a ton of games, and as you play an entire season. You get exposed to a lot of different looks, and you learn from those moments, and Dante has certainly learned from a lot of those moments what he’s seen.”

Dante Moore didn’t play many big-time games before the October 12 matchup. When Indiana came to Autzen, they caused a ruckus, breaking Oregon’s 22-game home winning streak. Of all the players, Dante Moore had the longest night in Eugene. The former UCLA QB got sacked six times, threw a season-low one touchdown, tossed two interceptions, and barely cracked 180 yards.

Since that L, Dante Moore entered a different mindset:

“I had a lot of emotions that game…I didn’t have that smile on my face, I didn’t have that joy. I was kind of too locked in to be honest. From that game on, from USC to Iowa, I learned how to adapt and treat it like another day at practice. Go out there and have fun; throw the ball with confidence. If you make a mistake, cool, next play.”

The very next week, Dante Moore was smiling and put up his best performance of the season against Rutgers. He threw for 290 yards and a career-high four touchdowns in a dominant 56–10 win.

He has since thrown for over 1,600 yards and 13 touchdowns, completing nearly 75% of his passes. Lanning gave a lot of credit to Moore’s ability to learn from adversity, which will be crucial against Indiana’s defense.

Lanning doubled down ahead of the rematch.

“He’s been a great player for us and done an unbelievable job, but he’s not the same player he was earlier this year. What they do on defense is really difficult. You have to be willing to take what they give you at times. They do a great job of protecting against shots. But Dante’s been a really good decision-maker throughout the year, and that’ll be important in this game.”

The Oregon Ducks get a second chance to take down the arguably “scariest team” in the FBS. If the Ducks and Dante Moore fail to do so in this week’s Peach Bowl, the “1,000 kits, zero natties” annual meme will make another run on social media. That’s the last thing Dan Lanning wants to come across.

However, it’s easier said than done.

Oregon Ducks vs Indiana Hoosiers’ preview

Right now, the general feeling in the betting world is that the undefeated Indiana Hoosiers are the favorites to win the Peach Bowl. Most sportsbooks have them favored by about 4 to 4.5 points over the Oregon Ducks. This means the odds-makers think Indiana is the slightly better team.

Well, if you look at win probability models, like ESPN’s analytics. They give Oregon roughly a 33% to 39% chance of pulling off the victory. So while they aren’t expected to win, it’s certainly far from impossible, but not impossible.

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So how can the Ducks beat this powerhouse Indiana team and advance to the National Championship? It really comes down to a few key things. First, their defense has to be on point, especially with Indiana’s Heisman-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza.

The Oregon defense absolutely needs to apply pressure, force turnovers like they did against Texas Tech in quarter finals. More importantly, stop Indiana’s run game by any means. Now going to the offensive side, Dante Moore needs to continue with post-Indiana game form. The O-line has to step up and prevent Dante Moore from getting sacked like the first time around.

Plus, control of possession and less-penalty as possible, in short words, if Oregon Ducks plays their best football of the season, like they did against Joey McGuire’s squad, Ducks would be the last-team remaining when everything said and done. Yes, but not without competitive-back and forth, obviously.