After Oregon crushed Oklahoma State 69-3, Dante Moore explained how the team reacted to the midweek comments by Mike Gundy.
"When you attack our head coach, it's like you're attacking my dad," Moore said in the postgame. "You're attacking a family member."
"For him to attack Phil and attack Coach Lanning and attack the team was personal. ... We were gonna keep the foot on the neck and make sure we score these points and try to break the scoreboard."
Moore connected on 16-21 passes for 266 yards and three touchdowns. For the game the Ducks piled up 631 yards of offense, 319 passing, 312 rushing. They averaged 10.7 yards per play.
In two weeks Moore Dante hasn't put a ball in harm's way while making a handful of smart throwaways. He's been incredibly accurate, efficient with his checks and reads. He throws a beautiful deep ball. In a two-game sample, he's been everything Duck fans hoped he would be.
He's completing 76 percent of his passes with six touchdowns in two games. To think some national analysts (like Bruce Feldman of The Athletic) put more confidence in Iowa's Mark Gronowski than they did in Moore.
“When you attack our head coach, its like attacking my dad, to be honest.”
— Olivia Cleary (@LivCleary) September 7, 2025
- Oregon QB Dante Moore on Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy’s comments during the week. pic.twitter.com/37U92EaV4n
The key now for him is how he handles pressure, better defenses and close games. But he's made a tremendous start and looks cool and collected. He must protect his body better when he runs. With the stable of backs the Ducks have, they don't need their quarterback diving headlong into piles and bouncing his head off the turf, especially when leading by four touchdowns.
Still, the way he's operated the offense and delivered the football to all levels suggests he can indeed be better than Dillon Gabriel or Bo Nix. He's displayed the arm talent, intelligence and leadership ability to take this Duck team to 10-12 wins.
Dante Moore has an NFL arm. This had a ton of juice on it. pic.twitter.com/9LYDAAsqsw
— Jon Helmkamp (@JonHelmkamp) September 6, 2025
Another of the concerns preseason was whether the Ducks had the depth and playmaking ability in the receiver room after the loss of Evan Stewart. Today's game saw 10 different receivers catch passes, including:
The Ducks taking yards in chunks
A 67-yard touchdown to Dante Moore
A 28-yard completion to Gary Bryant Jr. and an 11-yard touchdown
A gorgeous 42-yard post pattern to Malik Benson for a touchdown
A 26-yard crossing route to Kenyon Sadiq
Catches of 51 and 25 yards to Jeremiah McClellan
plus explosive running plays:
59-yard touchdown run by Noah Whittington
25-yard touchdown run by Dakorien Moore
53-yard run by Jayden Limar
Back-to-back it's hard to remember two more explosive and complete games to start a season by the Oregon team, all while playing around 80 players a game. What separates this team is the connection and the unselfishness, which shows most dramatically in the downfield blocking.
The explosiveness comes out of their exceptional speed, plus an incredible commitment to blocking for each other. Sadiq, Moore and Bryant all helped spring teammates for big plays, and Alex Harkey is proving to be a beast at that right tackle spot.
When this game was scheduled in November 2018, Oklahoma State was coming off two straight Top 25 finishes and back-to-back 10-3 seasons. Oregon had suffered through 4-8 and 7-6, just before Mario Cristobal began a resurgence, taken to the next level by Dan Lanning.
The game control the Ducks have displayed in these first two weeks will pay dividends all year and for the next two years. Getting live reps and an opportunity to shine ramps up the energy in practice. Players up and down the depth chart stay engaged, and they have teach-tape.