Joey McGuire Doesn't Hold Back on Oregon Quarterback Dante Moore

The No. 5 Oregon Ducks and No. 4 Texas Tech Red Raiders are preparing to play in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals. Ahead of the game, Oregon coach Dan Lanning and Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire met with the media together to discuss the matchup. During the press conference, McGuire gave a candid analysis of how well-balanced Oregon's team is.

"We’re really honored and excited to play in this game and play against such a great team, like Oregon. And so, I think this is gonna be the best game without a doubt in these quarterfinals. You got two great teams. We were talking earlier, and it’s like looking in a mirror. You’ve got great defenses, explosive offenses. I think both of our offenses probably produce the most explosive plays in college football this year.”

Oregon Ducks Texas Tech Red Raiders College Football Playoff Joey McGuire Dan Lanning Dante Moore Behren Morton Big Ten — Nov 14, 2025; Eugene, Oregon, USA; Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning high fives fans before a game between the Oregon Ducks and the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Autzen Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images | Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images

Joey McGuire Praises Dante Moore

“Well, no disrespect to any quarterback that we've faced, but he's the best quarterback we've played all year long. He extends plays with his feet. You see that. But whenever you turn on the tape, he's as accurate as anybody that we've played, or really more accurate whenever he throws the deep ball. He's got great skill around him, but he throws a great deep ball. I just love his story. So you know he's a mature person, and he's really grown because there's not a lot of people in this day and age that would sit behind -- especially at the quarterback position, sit behind people.”

“I'm really lucky my quarterback has been here from day one. He was born in Lubbock, and he's got a Texas Tech degree. There's not a lot of people that do that. They don't want to sit; they want to play right now. He redshirted and grew as a quarterback. I just think he's dynamic. Whenever you see him, he just continues to make plays. Whenever it's time to make a play with his feet, he makes a play with his feet, makes a play with his arm."

"He's tough, and just watching what they do offensively schematically, he also has a high football IQ because he can really digest what they do and play at a really high level.”

What Joey McGuire Said About Matchup

“We’re really excited and honored to be here. I’m kind of one of those guys that kind of fandboy really easily over great coaches. I’m a huge fan of Dan’s. I’ve watched a lot of his stuff that he puts out on social media. Anytime there’s a press conference, that’s kind of one of my - I don’t have a lot of hobbies, but that’s one. I pay attention to a lot of coaches around the nation, especially guys that are doing it right.”

“And so, it’s gonna be a lot of fun tomorrow. We’re excited to be here, and we got a big day today. It’s our fast Friday on a Wednesday, and we’ll be ready to go tomorrow. So, just thank you for letting us be a part of this. I promise we’ll be ready to go.”

The Best Advice Received For Preparing The Team For The Atmosphere

“Yeah, I would totally agree. The people that I've talked to say, man, just stay -- and Dan talked about it, stay in rhythm. Again, today, they probably know it's Wednesday, but it's Fast Friday for us. Don't change anything. You're here for a reason, and what you've done all year long has worked, so stick with that. We were lucky enough, and I know they were, too; we were able to go over to Hard Rock. We didn't go on the field, but just seeing the venue, our guys are really honored and excited to play in that stadium. But I think the biggest thing is just keep doing what we do.”

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Balancing Recruiting Between Being Transactional And Relationships With Players

“Well, I'm lucky; I think I have the best general manager in the country in James Blanchard and his staff, and we have a personnel staff. I'm never in any meeting whenever it comes to money. I try the best I can to keep the coach/player relationship as traditional as it has been whenever I was coached by Harris Brownlee and Tom McCohen, and the relationships I had with those guys. I'm also a very emotional person, so it's better for me to not be in these meetings. James keeps it very black and white, and as you said, it is very transactional."

"But I also think there's a lot of things that are still going on at Oregon and Texas Tech that are incredible for young people, that we're creating better men. I have 33 college graduates that will take the field tomorrow. We hold every GPA record in the 100-year history at Texas Tech, but we just broke the record, and my team has a 3.23 GPA, so all the people saying that they came for money and we paid this and this and this, man, turn on the tape and see how hard we play, and then, guess what, my guys went to class and excelled in the classroom."

"I think that's still such a huge part of what we're doing, and I think whenever people come into your building and they feel that and they see that, they want to come to places like Oregon and Texas Tech because it is about the money, there's no doubt about that, but it's also about we can help them reach their goals and their dreams and be better people.”

How The Bye Impacts The Team

“Yeah, one thing, we've got an old team. We've got a lot of snaps in college football, and I ask them, man, please make me right because the one thing that we did do, we needed the bye. Now, everybody that played December 6, seven days later they would have played. We just would have been football banged up. But the guys that I talked to, I talked to Kenny Perry, my special teams coordinator. I talked to Sonny Dykes whenever they played Michigan that year, some of the stuff that they would have done maybe different."

"Talked to Kenny. He had the bye last year with Arizona State and some of the stuff they did. What we tried to do was add some time where the players were together more, more events as a team, because we weren't in school and we weren't on a normal schedule. So we had some more downtime. Then the biggest thing what we try to do is we do good-on-good, but we added periods, or there would be sudden changes in practice."

"Howard Sampson saw he was blocking David Bailey or trying to block him from the standpoint of just the speed of the game because you're not seeing that, that we're going to have to see tomorrow and try to deal with. We try to do stuff like that to try to stay in rhythm. We needed a little bit of rest, though, too, especially our quarterback. I think he feels really good, and hopefully it shows up tomorrow."

Behren Morton’s Impact On Texas Tech

“Yeah, I hope I have another one in Will Hammond. He's dealing with an ACL. But Behren, I just have not been around -- I've done this 31 years - here in a few weeks it'll be 32 because I started in January - and he's the toughest player I've ever been around. There's a lot of things that he's dealt with over his career that a lot of quarterbacks around the nation didn't play, and he played."

"He has such a respect in that locker room, and he's got such a big voice. I feel like one thing about this team, putting this team together, this is as healthy of a locker room as I've ever been a part of. The care factor in that locker room is so high, and he's been such a -- he's been the force behind it. I asked him to really step out and cross over to the other side of the ball and bring Lee Hunter into what it means to be a Red Raider. David Bailey, Romello Height, he was the leader in bringing this team so close together.”

“I'm going to miss him. It was really cool in the Big 12 Championship. His dad sent me a text and said, Hey, look, I want a Big 12 Championship, and I want a picture of you two walking out of the stadium together, and it was really cool, we got to do that. We made a point, both of us, because we had talked about it in January, in January the year before, of making that happen, and we walked out together, and there's some really cool pictures of us coming out of that game together.”

What The Texas Tech Fan Base Means To Joey McGuire

“It's going to be incredible. One of the coolest things throughout this journey is after the Big 12 game how many letters and emails I've received from Texas Tech fans and guys that played -- some lettermen saying how proud they are and they've been waiting for however long for a team like this. It's going to mean a lot, but we have focused every single week on being in the moment and being where our feet are.”

“This is a game that's a huge game, but our guys know what's at stake. But I do carry that and feel that and am excited that there's been a lot of cool moments this year that Red Raiders have been excited about. I know they're really excited. We've got a big group coming out, and it's going to be -- I think Red Raiders always show up, and we'll have a good crowd. We're going to do everything we can to play really well tomorrow.”

Trying To Block Out The Noise On New Year's Eve

“Yeah, we're going to be on our normal Friday schedule. We'll have this Fast Friday today, and then we'll have all our meetings and we'll eat as a team, and then we're going to go watch a movie and be back for our team meeting and be in the hotel room. I think Cody Campbell and John Sellers are having a big New Year's Eve party tonight and I'm sure my wife is going, but I won't be thinking much about, I imagine I'm going to be up, but it's only because Dan is going to keep me up because I'm going to be worried about the Oregon Ducks. It's not going to be because I'm trying to bring in the new year.”

“I'll probably be looking at the ceiling and thinking about tomorrow and making sure I've checked all the boxes to make sure that my guys are ready to roll. Exciting, and man, it's so cool. I did look up -- and Bob Stoops is a good friend of mine, so of course he commented that he's coached in this game and won it, and I did look up. And it's really cool, the different guys, the who's-who have coached in the Orange Bowl. For Joey McGuire, an ol' high school coach, to be able to coach in this game and bring the Red Raiders in the College Football Playoffs, it's pretty cool. We're really excited about it.”