Oregon coach Dan Lanning was furious after Saturday’s win over USC at the illegal play that knocked Ducks quarterback Dante Moore out of the game and sent him to the hospital.
Moore, a potential first overall pick in the 2027 NFL draft, was sliding after running for a first down when he was blasted in the head by USC linebacker Desman Stephens. Lanning did not appreciate it.
“Our guys respect the game. I don’t think you’d ever see that from our players. I don’t think you’d ever see that from our coaches,” Lanning said. “It’s a disgusting play. You don’t want to see it happen. It’s disappointing that it happened. I’m praying that our player’s healthy, and I’m praying that their player can learn from that situation.”
Lanning credited his team for the way it responded to losing its star quarterback.
“In that moment, everybody wants to go get into a street fight, and I thought our players had unbelievable composure in that moment,” Lanning said. “And then they went and played it on the field, which is where the game is meant to be played.”
Lanning indicated that Moore’s prognosis looks good, but said he wasn’t ready to release an update on Moore’s condition.
“Indications are that he’s in recovery, so I don’t want to speak too soon, but he’s moving,” Lanning said. “He has the ability to move, so we’ll continue to assess him, but I don’t want to make any speculation on further thoughts on that before we have further information on him.”
After Moore was taken to a nearby hospital, he was replaced by Nebraska transfer Dylan Raiola, who had a tremendous game. Raiola completed 19 of 25 passes for 289 yards, with two touchdowns and no turnovers or sacks, as Oregon won 41-27.