It's the season of the year when no one's practicing and coaches are off recruiting, so stories about college football focus on rankings and ratings.
Most have the Ducks as a Top Ten team nationally and a contender to make the playoffs. Joel Klatt has the Ducks at No. 4. "We forgot about Dante Moore," Klatt said. "I think Dante Moore is a dark horse Heisman candidate."
"I think Dante is a good fit for Will Stein's offense."
"Watch out for Oregon."
Not everyone agrees, but almost all the pundits have the Ducks inside the playoff bubble. ESPN's Mark Schlabach has the Ducks at No. 8, falling back from No. 6 in January. Schlabach wrote:
The Ducks went back to work after winning a Big Ten title and finishing 13-0 in the regular season. The next step for coach Dan Lanning is to advance in the CFP.
Former five-star prospect Dante Moore was battling Austin Novosad to replace Dillon Gabriel as the starting quarterback. Hughes, who ran for 1,401 yards with 15 scores in 2024, was working as the No. 1 tailback. Pregnon, World and Harkey were in position to start on the offensive line.
The uncertainty around where to slot Oregon centers around the quarterback battle and Moore. While reports about his year as understudy to Gabriel have been glowing, national experts aren't sure what the Ducks will get from their redshirt sophomore quarterback, who looked overwhelmed as a true freshman in 2023 starting five games at UCLA.
The Bruins had a porous offensive line and an anemic supporting cast, a checked-out coach who wanted back in the NFL. At UO, Moore has everything he needs to succeed.
Makhi Hughes leads a stable of productive, explosive running backs. The Ducks averaged 158 yards a game last year on the ground and should easily top that this year behind Iapani Laloulu, Emmanuel Pregnon, Dave Iuli, Alex Harkey and Isaiah World.
Matthew Bedford and Gernorris Wilson give the Ducks seven starters in their offensive line corps, while up-and-coming freshman Douglas Utu and Ziyare Addison enrolled early, wanting to break in to the rotation.
Brad Crawford of 247Sports ranked all 18 of the Big Ten's likely starting quarterbacks, and he evaluates them much differently:
Crawford slots Moore as the fourth-best signal caller in the B1G, behind only Drew Allar, Illinois' starter Luke Altmyer and Ohio State redshirt freshman Julian Sayin, ahead of Cal's Fernando Mendoza, Nebraska's Dylan Raiola and Tennessee starter Nico Iamaleava.
About Moore he writes:
Dante Moore essentially hasn't played since his freshman campaign in 2023 at UCLA where he scattered 11 touchdown passes and nine interceptions over nine games. Given the success each of Oregon's last two transfer quarterbacks have enjoyed under play-caller Will Stein, Moore's expectations remain high for a guy whose main priority is getting the football out quickly to the Ducks' bevy of dynamic options in the passing game.
Moore has big shoes to fill after Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel were each all-conference honorees within this system the last two years.
Besides a strong running game, Moore's chief assets running the Ducks are Will Stein's quarterback-friendly system and steady guidance, plus an explosive cast of receivers. In Evan Stewart, Dakorien Moore and Kenyon Sadiq, he's got targets that will make a quarterback look good and create separation.
Big plays and yards after catch embellish a quarterback's numbers, and the Oregon offense is full of easy, effective throws that get a quarterback in rhythm and boost his confidence.
Moore is focused on growing as a leader and building chemistry with his receivers. After the spring game he said,
"The chemistry is going to always keep growing and growing. This is the first phase of the season, spring ball. There's going to be a lot of mistakes, but that's good.
If you're perfect, and it's insane how it can be like that, but overall I glad to see mistakes because you get to learn from it and build from it — especially with the young guys — it teaches a lot of great things. The chemistry is going to get there for sure."
Moore has arm talent, and Stein knows how to feature it. The OC excels at creating pictures for his quarterback and putting him in good situations.
All of the Oregon quarterbacks made plays in the Spring Game. The continued competition will sharpen them. Moore has all the tools to keep gettting better.
Joel Klatt is right. Like Gabriel and Nix before him, he's a Heisman candidate.