The simple, surefire Heisman campaign for Oregon's Dante Moore

Oregon is legendary for flash and innovation, for always being on offense and seizing attention. When Bo Nix returned for his senior year they put up "BOdacious" billboards in New York and Dallas. The year they entered the Big Ten, they floated a giant Duck on the White River in downtown Indianapolis.

Those campaigns worked because Oregon backed them up. In 2024 they won a Big Ten Championship in their first year in the league with a perfect 13-0 regular season. The year before, Nix played his way into the first round by throwing for 4.145 yards and 40 touchdowns, setting an NCAA record for passing accuracy at 78 percent.

This time the Ducks need to resist the temptation for the bold marketing stroke. Dante Moore's best Heisman advertisement is to play winning football. to improve his poise and pocket awareness and throw touchdowns.

The hype machine runs on its own energy-- the Ducks don't need to feed it

If he does that, there's already a hype machine in place to tell his story. Joel Klatt, Josh Pate, Andy and Ari, The CBS Sports College Football Show, Pat McAfee, ESPN College GameDay, Greg McElroy, Pawl Whinebomb, Kirk Herbstreit, J.D. Pickell, "The Solid Verbal," "The Cover 3 Podcast," "The PFF College Football Show," David Pollack-- all these exist to amplify and pontificate about who's number one and why.

Billboards and hype videos don't suit his personality anyway. He's a lowkey guy, praying with his teammates before and after games. He's already demonstrated the ability to make bigtime throws under pressure, to deliver a beautiful ball at the perfect moment. He doesn't need the Outside Noise. There will be plenty anyway.

Really, the only billboard or announcement Moore needs comes at 14:20 of this startling video compilation. He can deliver passes with stunning accuracy, as talented and gifted a right arm as anyone in the game.

Moore at his best is other-worldly. Remember the rollout against Penn State in overtime, avoiding the rush and throwing sidearm to Gary Bryant Jr. for the winning touchdown? Remember the darts to Kenyon Sadiq to bury USC?

The flip side includes the need to improve his poise and recognition in the pocket, particularly when an elite defense brings pressure. The ball he threw to start the Peach Bowl was a disaster. By the second quarter of that game, he started seeing ghosts.

Overall he made a tremendous leap forward from scared, overwhelmed freshman at UCLA to the composed leader of the Ducks as a redshirt sophomore. If he achieves an analogous measure of growth after deciding to return for his junior year, Nix's numbers will be in jeopardy. Winning the Heisman (not his goal or his focus) is as simple as achieving his enormous potential.

When Moore announced his decision to return live on ESPN SportsCenter he said, "With this decision, mainly all my life has just been about being as most prepared as I can for any situation I go into," Moore told "SportsCenter." "And when it comes to me making my decision, I just want to do what's best for my situation, especially as a quarterback.



"With my decision, it's been very tough. I've prayed a lot about it, talked to many people -- my mentors and people I look up to. With that being said, of course I'll be coming back to Oregon for one more year, being able to play for the Oregon Ducks and reach our goal and be national champions."

Some pundits and websites have Moore at the very top of this list. After throwing for 3,565 yards and 30 touchdowns as a redshirt sophomore, he's always in the discussion. At FanDuel, early Heisman odds place Notre Dame's CJ Carr at the top at +800, followed by Texas Longhorn superstar Arch Manning at +950, then the new signal caller at Indiana, TCU transfer Josh Hoover at +1100.

Moore follows in a group of three at +1300 along with Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith and his quarterback Julian Sayin. The Horseshoe will shake to the foundations on November 7 when the Webfoots meet the Buckeyes in what could be a No. 1 versus No. 2 matchup, at least a very anticipated one.

The Motor City Magician's 2026 test includes road games at Oklahoma State, USC and Illinois before the potential classic in Columbus. He's got two electric running backs, one of the deepest and explosive receiver corps in the game and a strong defense but an untested offensive line.

Making his bold, mature decision work rests on continuing to improve as a leader and in his pocket awareness. He doesn't need the distraction of buildup and promotion. In fact, the strongest and most powerful statement he and the Ducks can make is simply to line up and play football.

It'd be delightful if they took the field against Boise State or Portland State in a plain green uniform with yellow numbers and a yellow helmet, a Mel Renfro-era throwback with no logos or patches, no hoopla, no noise. Just lethal efficiency. The glory and recognition are inevitable. Dante Moore knows it belongs to God.