Three Things We Learned From Saturday's College Football Spring Games: Oregon Has Its Ducks in a Row

Old faces in new places made their mark on Saturday’s slate.

Dylan Raiola may finally have found a lasting home on coach Dan Lanning’s Oregon squad. | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The first spring game played this weekend was the most important. Indiana, college football’s most unlikely defending champion, took the field Thursday evening at the same time as ex-quarterback Fernando Mendoza became the first pick of the NFL draft (a more detailed recap of that game can be found here).

However, the Hoosiers weren’t the only team to suit up on the last weekend of April. Dozens of other teams delivered fans a spring showcase, and two (Monmouth and Stephen F. Austin) are even scheduled to take the field Sunday.

Here’s a look at three spring games of particular import, and what we can take away from them going forward.

In Oregon’s quarterback room, still waters run deep

Let’s flash back to Dec. 18, 2023 for a minute. On that day, the Ducks secured the commitment of transfer quarterback Dante Moore—an eyebrow-raising development because Oregon had won the services of quarterback Dillon Gabriel just nine days prior. As it turned out, Moore sat behind Gabriel in `24, absorbed lessons from the third-place Heisman finisher, and thrived in 2025.

This year, Dylan Raiola appears primed to fill that role after two up-and-down years at Nebraska—and if his performance Saturday is any indication, he looks up to the task. Raiola completed seven of 13 passes for 146 yards, including a 76-yard strike to wide receiver Evan Stewart. The Honolulu, Hawaii native—just under six months removed from breaking his fibula—called the moment “very grateful and very emotional” via Erik Skopil of Duck Territory. The Ducks may have two starting-caliber quarterbacks, but in a testament to coach Dan Lanning’s program management, they seem to have anything but controversy.

Every Dylan Raiola dropback in Oregon's Spring Game pic.twitter.com/NzMS6mqRUi

— Billy M (@BillyM_91) April 25, 2026

Notre Dame’s defense: Still stingy

The Fighting Irish’s defense has finished in the top 12 in FBS in points allowed per game in each of the last three seasons. That has not happened since 1964 to `66, a span where Notre Dame went 25-3-2. Defensive coordinator Chris Ash hardly missed a beat taking over for now-Bengals defensive coordinator Al Golden in `25, and on Saturday his defense thrived against a presumptive Heisman contender in quarterback CJ Carr.

Linebacker Jaylen Sneed snagged an interception off a deflection, and safety Ethan Long added one as well. The defensive line generated decent push by spring-game standards, and even though the offense won the contest 41–40, Ash’s unit could walk away with its collective head held high. The question is whether the Fighting Irish can replicate that in game action—a Wisconsin team opening year two under offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes will make for an interesting early test.

Sneed with the snag 🔥#GoIrish☘️ | @sneed_jaylen pic.twitter.com/UqbD4UoFWQ

— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) April 25, 2026

Arkansas seems refreshed under new management

It can’t get much worse for the Razorbacks than their 2–10 campaign in 2025, which saw them can coach Sam Pittman just four years after he led the team to its first postseason Top 25 ranking since 2011. This offseason, Arkansas seemed to take a deep breath before making an un-flashy hire: veteran Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield, who’d led the Tigers successfully for six years and beat the Razorbacks 32–31 in `25.

So far, so good. Arkansas (literally) showed little in a spring game it did not televise, but put enough on the stat sheet to hint at modest improvement. Quarterback KJ Jackson hit on nine of 13 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown, including a 65-yard strike to wide receiver CJ Brown (Both, intriguingly, chose to stay despite Pittman’s departure). Junior college transfer Nsongbeh Ginyui added a pick-six of the Razorbacks’ other potential starting quarterback, AJ Hill. Arkansas has a deep hole to climb out of and a tough schedule, but don’t expect another 2-10 slog—perhaps Missouri at home on Oct. 31 could present an opportunity for an upset.

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