Dante Moore and the Oregon Ducks walked into Beaver Stadium Saturday night and outlasted the Penn State Nittany Lions in a statement overtime win for the Ducks. Oregon improved to 5-0 on the season. Moore looked composed all night managing the game for the Ducks. Why couldn’t UCLA get this level of poise out of Moore during his time in Westwood?
Through five games, Moore has completed 74.6% of his passes, having thrown for 1,210 yards and 14 touchdowns with just one interception. Moore also had his best rushing game of the season against Penn State on Saturday, bringing his season total up to 122 yards while averaging 5.1 yards per carry.
Lack of impact at UCLA
Moore spent his freshman season with the Bruins, where he looked like a much different player, throwing for 11 touchdowns and nine picks while completing only 53.5% of his passes and taking 25 sacks in nine games.
Heisman candidate at Oregon
In his first season as a starter in Eugene, Moore has emerged as a potential Heisman candidate, with Ducks Wire writer Bjorn Bergstrom writing about his impressive outing.
“The junior quarterback never seemed to batt an eye — not on any of Oregon’s seven fourth-down conversion tries, and certainly not when the Ducks fell behind 24-17 in the first overtime. In all, he completed 29 of 39 passes for 248 yards and three touchdowns in the the biggest game of his life. He also added a crucial 35 yards on the ground (second-most on the team) on 10 carries. The former UCLA Bruin showed the nation that he’s come a long way from his underwhelming true freshman campaign in 2023,” Bergstrom wrote.
Dante Moore in College Football Playoff
Oregon is unbeaten entering October and has a high-quality win on its resume. It’s a near-lock that Oregon will be in the College Football Playoff. What a meteoric rise in Dante Moore’s fortunes.
Big Ten Championship Game
Dante Moore took a huge step toward making the Big Ten Championship Game, now that Oregon has a head-to-head tiebreaker over Penn State in the Big Ten football standings.
Joey Aguilar
Dante Moore succeeding away from UCLA at Oregon joins Joey Aguilar thriving at Tennessee as an example of what happens when quarterbacks leave Westwood.
Awful UCLA coaching and player development
Dante Moore and Joey Aguilar both show that UCLA is just not coaching up its players or giving them the tools they need to succeed. All of this increases the heat on the school to hire the right replacement for DeShaun Foster.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: Dante Moore looks like a completely different quarterback away from UCLA
Reporting by Dylan McNeill, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
