It was a mild shock at Rutgers late in the third quarter with the Ducks leading 56-10 when Brock Thomas came in to play quarterback.
Thomas is 5-11, 195, a former walk-on from Sheldon High School in Eugene, a three-star prospect in the class of 2023. Luke Moga and Austin Novosad were both rated higher, taller and more accomplished as preps.
In his Monday press conference Dan Lanning said, "Over time, he's done a really good job in practice, he’s operated well, those guys have also done a really good job as well. But there's not anything necessarily that Brock hasn't done to earn those reps."
"He's earned them in practice. We talk about rent’s due in football every single week, and he's been a guy that's been paying rent and doing what he's supposed to do."
Against the Scarlet Knights the Eugene native completed 3-4 passes for 45 yards. He connected with Jeremiah McClellan on a 35-yard pass on third and 1 to get the Ducks into field goal range, gained 15 yards on a keeper.
He had the team driving again at the end of the game, taking a knee twice after they reached the Rutgers 16.
It isn't unprecedented for a walk-on to win the starting quarterback job. Though not a walk-on, Joe Montana was once the third-team quarterback at Notre Dame. Stetson Bennett won two national championships at Georgia.
Officially, Lanning's position is that Thomas has earned the backup reps through hard work in practice, and there's no doubt that's true on the surface. He's performed credibly. Dante Moore's clearly the starter, a future first-round NFL draft pick and one of the best QBs in college football.
Duck fans won't know unless there's an emergency situation how firm that quarterback rotation is. It could be that the team is trying to preserve the possibility of a medical redshirt for Moga and/or Novosad, something that would have to be approved by the NCAA.
For now, Moore is the starter and Thomas is the cleanup hitter. Fans can't know yet if that lineup holds with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth.