ATLANTA — After it was over, the tears in Dante Moore’s eyes started to well up.

The Oregon quarterback lingered on the sideline at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and began to hug coaches and teammates, one by one. When he connected with offensive lineman Iapani Laloulu, the Ducks center gave his quarterback a quick kiss on the cheek and started to pray with him. “I love you, boy,” Laloulu told him as Moore buried his head into Laloulu’s chest, his own upper body rising and falling with each emotional breath.

Then the Ducks’ young star walked off the field for the final time this season. He wiped his nose, flashed an “O” with his hands to the Oregon faithful and headed down the winding tunnel and toward the locker room to be with his teammates.

Moore, the redshirt sophomore who came to the West Coast from Detroit, has had plenty of dazzling moments in his No. 5 Oregon uniform. But Friday night against Indiana was a real-life nightmare in a 56-22 Oregon loss that somehow didn’t even feel that close. Moore finished the night 24-of-39 passing for 285 yards, two touchdowns and three turnovers in what will go down as one of the most frustrating nights of his career.

No one felt that more deeply than Moore.

“First things first, the quarterback has to protect the football,” he said. “(Indiana) has a great defense, great disguise and different looks, but you can’t win football games if you’re causing turnovers. (That’s) something of course I need to work at.”

The frustration kicked in early for Moore, who, in the game’s first play from scrimmage, threw a pick six straight into the hands of Indiana cornerback D’Angelo Ponds. Just 11 seconds into the game, the Hoosiers were up 7-0, with the overwhelmingly pro-Indiana crowd nearly bursting at the seams right from the jump.

INDIANA PICK-SIX ON DANTE MOORE ON THE FIRST PLAY OF THE GAME 🤯 pic.twitter.com/BGR1OeahyH

— ESPN (@espn) January 10, 2026

Moore composed himself in the Ducks’ subsequent drive and led Oregon to a touchdown as the Ducks effectively attacked Indiana both through the air and on the ground to tie the score at 7. But midway through the second quarter, he fumbled when his arm hit freshman running back Dierre Hill Jr. on a run-pass option play. Indiana recovered at the Oregon 3-yard line and was in the end zone within 70 seconds. Later in the second quarter, Moore fumbled again — this time after he was sacked for a loss of 8 yards to put the Hoosiers at the Oregon 21. Spoiler alert: IU scored again.

“Indiana’s defense is great,” Moore said. “But at the end of the day, we beat ourselves.”

After Oregon lost at home to Indiana 30-20 in October — Oregon’s only loss before Friday — the Ducks vowed that they’d make adjustments this time around and come in ready to attack an Indiana defense that makes life miserable for opposing quarterbacks with disguises and post-snap movement. But Moore could never get into a rhythm, with the Ducks either giving the ball away, punting or turning the ball over on downs on eight of their 12 drives. They were down 35-7 by halftime and 49-15 early in the fourth quarter. The run game, behind a thin group of Oregon running backs, didn’t help either. Indiana held Oregon to 93 yards on 26 carries.

“Our philosophy is to attack and we are moving a lot of pieces in the front seven,” Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said. “And we’ve always been top five in the country against the run, TFLs and sacks and that’s just our philosophy on how to play defense.”

Moore said when he watches the tape back of what became his hellacious night, he’ll watch not only his mistakes and his offense’s issues, but the play of Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, too. Mendoza, by contrast, was lights out — the Heisman Trophy winner completed 85 percent of his passes for 177 yards and five touchdowns.

“I give him his credit,” Moore said. “Somebody I’m going to stay in touch with when it comes to just talking ball, talking life. Quarterbacks learn from each other. And I’m excited how much I can learn from this game and learn from my future coming up.”

Speaking of that future, Moore has a big decision to make in the coming weeks about whether he wants to declare for the NFL Draft or return to Oregon for another season. He’s a projected first-rounder — and possibly a contender with Mendoza to go No. 1 overall — but as late Friday night inched toward early Saturday morning, he said he did not yet have an answer.

The shock of it all was still setting in, his eyes wide and looking straight ahead at nothing in particular. This night will no doubt haunt him for the months and years to come.

“I knew that question was coming,” Moore said of his future. “I want to soak this moment up. That’s most important. Just giving hugs and just thank yous to my teammates, but at the end of the day, I don’t know my decision yet.

“I’m going to talk to coach (Dan) Lanning and talk to my family and everybody, but at the end of the day, I don’t want to think about that right now. I just want to think about my teammates and give love to them.”