The expectations surrounding the 2025 Oregon football team were not as high comparatively because the Ducks lost a lot of talent from last season. However, Oregon has remained dominant, primarily due to how seamlessly Dante Moore has fit into the Oregon offense, especially after the previous game against Penn State. The rest of the supporting cast has also shown up in a dominant way for Oregon's offense.
Dante Moore initially hesitated to stay with the Oregon football program behind Dillon Gabriel last season, but Dan Lanning convinced him to stay. Lanning said on the “Bussin' With The Boys” podcast that a massive reason he ended up being okay with sitting for a year was that many quarterbacks who got drafted recently, like Michael Penix Jr., Bo Nix, and Jayden Daniels, were drafted after their fifth and sixth years in college and maximized their talent for as long as possible.
“What it starts with is you being honest. And I think what happened to Dante when he left UCLA was that he looked around college football and realized that very few of these guys getting opportunities to go to the NFL were freshman or sophomore quarterbacks,” Lanning said.
“Most of them were like Jayden Daniels, playing in his fifth year, and Bo Nix, playing in his sixth year. Like these guys, Michael Penix had been maximizing their career; the key was how they played when they left. So, I think he realized it’s not about how fast it says but how I play when I get it on the field.”
Lanning also said that what Dante Moore learned from Dillon Gabriel last season was invaluable and is a massive reason for his current play.
“He’ll be the first to tell you what he learned from Dillon Gabriel,” Lanning said. “That was an unbelievable experience for him, and it made him play the way he’s now.”
Dante Moore has thrown for 1,210 yards and 14 touchdowns with only one interception on a 74.6% completion percentage through five games. After the massive win against Penn State, Moore has to be in the Heisman Trophy conversation and potentially the frontrunner to be the top pick in next year's draft.
