The Oregon Ducks have been playing at far from full-strength ever since the opening game of Big Ten play. Dante Moore's concussion will be pointed toward as being the reason the season ended up being a waste, but that may not be true. This team showed fatal flaws far before Dante Moore's injury, with the early season struggles, and Oregon could've lost many of these games with their star quarterback.
While Dante Moore's injury may have derailed this season for Dan Lanning and the Ducks, in the long run it may end up benefitting the program long term as several issues have to be addressed.
Dante Moore's injury exposed where Oregon has to make changes
Over the offseason, there wasn't nearly enough attention paid to the fact that Oregon was replacing both coordinators, and the loss of Will Stein has been a massive issue for the Ducks. Dan Lanning opted to roll the dice with Drew Mehringer rather than shopping at the top of the market, and it's arguably the biggest reason for this team's failures.
Oregon entered the Illinois game as one of the worst offenses in the country, and after a performance that was abysmal, the numbers are only going to look worse.
Oregon is averaging just 24.0 yards per drive vs P4 teams, only Stanford is worse (23.7). 18.5% of the Ducks drives vs P4 teams have ended in a turnover, only Oklahoma is worse (20.0%)...
— Chris Fallica (@chrisfallica) October 22, 2026
With Dante Moore at quarterback, he certainly may have covered up some of Mehringer's flaws, but his absence has shown just how big of a problem the Ducks have at offensive coordinator. Things have reached the point where firing Mehringer this weekend would surprise no one, and his return would spark riots among the fans.
The other big issue for the Ducks has been the quarterback room, which was seen as a strength coming into the season. The Ducks picked up Dylan Raiola with the hope of developing him, and the upside that he could keep the offense afloat if Dante Moore was injured for a stretch.
Instead, the Ducks have had three full games without Dante Moore, and have posted a 1-2 record, with the starting quarterback getting benched twice in those games. Dylan Raiola has been especially disappointing as he's missed wide open wide receivers at times, and hasn't been nearly consistent enough to give the offense any hope.
If Dante Moore played the entire season, Oregon easily could've entered next season with Drew Mehringer calling plays and Dylan Raiola under center, and it would've been a disaster. If there's any positive to come from losing Dante Moore it should be the fact that it's exposed some ugly flaws in Dan Lanning's program.
When the season comes to a close, Lanning should be launching a full scale search for an elite offensive coordinator and eventually, a quarterback. None of the quarterbacks in the room have proven to be worth starting next season, and it'll likely send Dan Lanning and Company back into the Transfer Portal.
Oregon's season has been a disaster, but for how ugly things have gotten, there's going to have to be answers to these issues, which is a slight positive long term.
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