Last spring and summer--you read my words about how, if ANY team can get a great, experienced portal transfer quarterback...it is OREGON. We've proven how our coaching benefits them, and their experience gets us through the tough moments, and the tough games.

I thought it was dumb to NOT take an experienced portal quarterback. "There is no replacement for experience," I stated, and I could not understand why we would stand pat, when, as Indiana demonstrated....good, experienced QBs are out there, and can get you through the epic games.

Would we have lost that game with Bo Nix at QB? With Dillon Gabriel at QB? No. They would have been able to create more points because they have BEEN THERE before with Simulated Pressures coming at them.

But...as the season began, I began to believe Tez Johnson, and the quotes from coaches that surfaced in the telecasts of the first couple of games. But Saturday showed us..."there is no substitute for experience."

Dante Moore will grow and improve, but it will be at OUR expense, of losing games. This is what every QB goes through; there were times he rolled out too soon. Step up and lead your throw downfield to the receiver breaking open. Don't get happy-feet, and cut half the field off before you have to.

Yes, I know it is hard to recruit QBs to be back-ups, but this is a new era with NIL, and coaches must adapt. Last year's 12-0 regular season would have been 10-2 with a talented, but inexperienced quarterback, and Gabriel was the difference in a bunch of big moments. He had been there, and done that.

Of course Dante could grow into a superb QB by the end of the 2026 season, but how many games do we lose when an experienced QB would not have? This is an option teams did not have in CFB before, and Oregon should be capitalizing on it with no apologies, IMHO.

Regardless...we will still see a ton of WINNING Football.

Spot On, Charles. Then and now.

Today's CFB is all about roster management. Scoring with unproven high school talent still matters. But if you can find a quality, experienced QB in the portal, like Fernando Mendoza, John Mateer, or Carson Beck, sign them up!

In regard to yesterday, I watched 'Titanic' once, OK twice, which is enough.

Should OBD refuse to schedule Bye Weeks? 🤬

Remember...

Ohio State won a national championship last year and lost to Oregon and Michigan.

We still have everything to play for though the B1G title will require a little help along the way. So we may miss out on a conference title but the playoff is still very possible.

Moore will grow and the team should grow too.

I'm going to disagree. From what I have seen from Dante, I am confident that he is the guy.

This loss will help this team. They have tasted defeat and now they know it can happen to them.

Time to do what osu did last year after a surprising loss . . . run the table.

Massive teaching moment.

I'm still in the room for Dante Moore leading this team, but I have 1 foot out the door.

Why did UCLA Moore show up again? Was this the first time he's seen the same scenarios that he failed with at UCLA? Receivers not wide open, zone coverage, less than 5 seconds to throw? What was it exactly?

It's like good Bo, bad Bo, the Dante Moore version. The good news is the University of Oregon, it's fans and Stein were able to support Bo to be good Bo nearly all of the time, but the bad news is bad Bo still cost us a playoff spot against Washington in the Pac12 Champ game..

It's a fine line between success and failure.

I stand by my comments that Dante was the primary reason we lost this game, but he's our starting QB and has shown some growth. I certainly have hope he can learn to play better under these adverse conditions we are guaranteed to see in the playoffs.

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by Solar

Dante was sacked by two players blitzing on the first play of the game. He was sacked five more times and Indiana players hit him, sometimes in a manner that should have drawn a flag for roughing the passer, several more times. He got up limping at least twice. Those sacks and hits came at him really fast. Somewhere in the preparation for this game our coaching staff let Dante down. Yes, game experience is important, but blitzing schemes can be duplicated in practice, probably are, but obviously our coaches either did not anticipate what Cig planned, or, on our defensive side, don't know enough to prepare properly.

1 hour ago, Grandpa Duck said:

Dante was sacked by two players blitzing on the first play of the game. He was sacked five more times and Indiana players hit him, sometimes in a manner that should have drawn a flag for roughing the passer, several more times. He got up limping at least twice. Those sacks and hits came at him really fast. Somewhere in the preparation for this game our coaching staff let Dante down. Yes, game experience is important, but blitzing schemes can be duplicated in practice, probably are, but obviously our coaches either did not anticipate what Cig planned, or, on our defensive side, don't know enough to prepare properly.

Agreed. I just created a new thread on this topic before reading your post.

At the same time for Moore, it sure seemed like that Mike Tyson quote: "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face."

It was like Dante Moore from UCLA was raised from the dead when he got up from that sack on the first play of the game.

I hope he can mature past that going forward.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Solar

3 hours ago, Charles Fischer said:

Last spring and summer--you read my words about how, if ANY team can get a great, experienced portal transfer quarterback...it is OREGON. We've proven how our coaching benefits them, and their experience gets us through the tough moments, and the tough games.

I thought it was dumb to NOT take an experienced portal quarterback. "There is no replacement for experience," I stated, and I could not understand why we would stand pat, when, as Indiana demonstrated....good, experienced QBs are out there, and can get you through the epic games.

Would we have lost that game with Bo Nix at QB? With Dillon Gabriel at QB? No. They would have been able to create more points because they have BEEN THERE before with Simulated Pressures coming at them.

But...as the season began, I began to believe Tez Johnson, and the quotes from coaches that surfaced in the telecasts of the first couple of games. But Saturday showed us..."there is no substitute for experience."

Dante Moore will grow and improve, but it will be at OUR expense, of losing games. This is what every QB goes through; there were times he rolled out too soon. Step up and lead your throw downfield to the receiver breaking open. Don't get happy-feet, and cut half the field off before you have to.

Yes, I know it is hard to recruit QBs to be back-ups, but this is a new era with NIL, and coaches must adapt. Last year's 12-0 regular season would have been 10-2 with a talented, but inexperienced quarterback, and Gabriel was the difference in a bunch of big moments. He had been there, and done that.

Of course Dante could grow into a superb QB by the end of the 2026 season, but how many games do we lose when an experienced QB would not have? This is an option teams did not have in CFB before, and Oregon should be capitalizing on it with no apologies, IMHO.

Regardless...we will still see a ton of WINNING Football.

Of course Nix and Gabriel were were essential to our success the last two years. But I don't see seeking to grab a high level transfer every year as a formula for success at the blue blood, win national championships level. Great programs rely more on bringing top talent five stars and DEVELOPING them into great college QBs. Not sure how much Lanning's staff developed Nix and Gabriel. They both came in with experiences from multiple offenses and were superior mental processors. This staff had a year and a half to develop Dante. If we are now complaining about his inability to see the field, has poor footwork, and nervous feet when he's blitzed; this is a lack of developmental coaching. Always seeking to bring in high level transfer QBs would certainly negatively impact recruiting. Both Dante and Sayin were redshirts on the bench last year. Sayin has extremely good mechanics, footwork, throwing motion, field vision and processing skills. Some came naturally, but others have come through developmental coaching. Lanning is a great motivational and recruiting coach. But just like his team he is young. Why was he feeding his QB rat poison by telling the world Dante was the best QB in America? Lanning needs to learn there are more important tasks than making a splash.