Heading into the 2025 college football season, former UCLA quarterback Dante Moore is expected to take over the starting job for the Oregon Ducks. With former Heisman nominee Dillon Gabriel now in the NFL, Moore will be expected to help the Ducks have another strong season. Moore served as a backup for the Ducks last season after starting for UCLA in 2023.
On Saturday, the Ducks held a scrimmage and head coach Dan Lanning revealed that the defense dominated it. While Lanning did not mention Dante Moore directly, it is clear based on Lanning’s comments about the offense that he fell flat in his performance.
“I don’t know that anything necessarily stood out,” Dan Lanning said. “Like I said, I think defense won the day. They were able to get some three-and-outs. The offense operated efficiently but we just didn’t create any explosives and didn’t have some of the downfield passing attack that we have had in other days of fall camp. I’ve come in here before and told you that offense had won the day, but today I feel like defense won that.”
Dante Moore and the Oregon Ducks Have a Soft Opening Stretch to the Season
While there is likely some disappointment around the Ducks regarding Dante Moore’s play in training camp, they do not need to worry yet. The Ducks have a relatively soft opening schedule. Their first four games are against Montana State, Oklahoma State, Northwestern, and Oregon State, which should secure relatively easy wins for the Ducks.
However, after those games, they have some difficult tests. They have two games in a row against College Football Playoff teams from last year. They will play the Penn State Nittany Lions on Sept. 27. Then, following a bye week, the Ducks will play the Indiana Hoosiers on Oct. 11.
Another benefit of the team going forward is that it has avoided significant injuries throughout training camp. Following the scrimmage on Saturday, Dan Lanning revealed that everyone walked away healthy. While injuries are always going to be a problem in football, having them occur in training camp before the season can be disheartening.
After Oregon’s first scrimmage yesterday, Dan Lanning said everybody walked away healthy.
The #1 thing you want to here, no injuries
— Oregon Updates (@oregon__updates) August 10, 2025
Read More:
