Oklahoma State Coach Eric Morris Drops Honest Take on Dante Moore

Oklahoma State Cowboys coach Eric Morris certainly wasn’t going to poke the bear.

Prior to a Week 2 matchup between the Cowboys and the Oregon Ducks in 2025, then-Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy made waves with his comments regarding the Pacific Northwest program’s Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) spending habits, even going as far as saying “it’ll cost a lot of money to keep” quarterback Dante Moore.

oregon ducks oklahoma state cowboys eric morris dan lanning dante moore quarterback mike gundy college football playoff nil — Oklahoma State head coach Eric Morris speaks during OSU Football Media Day in Stillwater, Okla., on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Gundy found out the hard way that providing coach Dan Lanning with any kind of fuel to use in his pregame speeches wasn’t a good idea. The Ducks dominated in a 69-3 win, and Gundy and the Cowboys parted ways shortly after.

Morris took a different approach from his predecessor ahead of the 2026 Week 2 meeting in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Cowboys coach (who faced Lanning and Oregon back in 2022 when he was the offensive coordinator for the Washington State Cougars) seemed to have nothing but praise for Moore, Lanning and the No. 6 Oregon squad.

Everything Oklahoma State Coach Eric Morris Said About Oregon

If Quarterback Dante Moore Reminds Him of Anyone:

“Yeah, he's good. This team is full of good players. Obviously, they've done a phenomenal job of building this thing. This is year five for Dan, and he's done a phenomenal job of putting pieces around him, too.”

“When you look at it collectively, the resources, the investment and what they've been able to do there consistently — going to two back-to-back College Football Playoffs, winning some games last year.”

“He has a really smooth stroke. The ball gets out fast. Quick release. He's accurate. He's athletic. He's a full-package guy and somebody I think is going to play football for a really long time.”

What Stands Out About Oregon’s Defense:

“Their edge rushers, to start with. You've got two guys who have played that much football, and are long and aggressive. They get after the passer and set the edges in the run game.”

“Then their interior D-line. They have so much experience up front in their starting four guys. I think they defend the pass. I think they're physical. On the back end, they have a safety transfer who's getting into it. They lost a safety that was a really good player last year.”

“It's hard to look at tape, especially from last year, we don't have a huge sample size yet from this year. But obviously they're fast, they react, they tackle well and they create a bunch of issues.”

“For us to stay in front of the chains and not be on predicament, down-and-distance situations, getting down a lot of third-and-longs is going to be key for us.”

How His Offense Creates Explosive Plays to Counter the Ducks’ Safeties:

“A lot of different ways, and we've got to attack. We've got to make them defend the entire field. I think this offense allows you to do that with some RPO stuff, with some screen stuff.”

“One area this last week where I didn't think we were able to push the ball down the field effectively at all. That's something we've got to be able to do.”

“You've got to time your shots. We talk about everything working together. Understanding you've got two of the best edge rushers in America coming from the edge right here, so sometimes you don't have a ton of time to do that.”

“And they also play a variety of coverages. They play some three-high stuff, they play two-high stuff, they'll get into one-high and they play some man coverage. They do a great job of keeping you honest and keeping you off balance on the back end.”

If He Anticipates Oregon Throwing a Five-Man Defensive Front at Them:

“I don't know. They could attack it that way and get it out fast, or they could attack it where they say, "Hey, we don't have to rush that many and keep one more in coverage because of what you have on tape."

“I think we'll probably see both at some point in the game. Obviously, they're somebody who has always liked to apply pressure on defense. They've been that way forever. He's been really good at it, so I don't anticipate that going away anytime soon.”

How Dan Lanning Evolved From the 2022 Matchup When He Was at Washington State:

“They've just had time to build a really good roster. When you put the group together like he has right now, you've got a lot of different options to do and for guys to go execute those schematics.”

“That probably would have been Year 1 for him there. We had a really good quarterback in Cam Ward. But five years into a program allows you to build it the way you want. I think his culture is obviously established.”

“The brand of football that you have to play in the Big Ten is different than what it used to be in the Pac-12, and I think that's something they've adjusted to nicely.”

What They Can Do to Slow Down Oregon’s Passing Offense:

“We've got to be able to affect the passer at some point. This guy is super talented and a projected top-10 pick. If you just stand back there and give him a ton of time to go through reads, he's probably going to do a pretty good job getting the ball to where it needs to go.”

"Being able to get him off his spot at some point. That's easier said than done. They're pretty good up front, and they've got a good running game and a balanced attack. Coach Cassity will have to do the same thing and keep them off balance at times. We've got to be able to mix up the picture for him.”

“Like any really good quarterback, if you keep the picture the same, they're going to go through it and pick you apart a little bit.”

His Thoughts on Inheriting Oregon as His First Home Opener:

“Momentum is super important. We spent a lot of time talking about that today. I think we saw that in a negative way over the course of last week.”

“You have all this momentum, and when you have it, you want to keep it. When you don't have it, you've got to go get it. It's almost like leverage in life.”

“We have a lot of people who are obviously disappointed. We have a bunch of people reading press clippings and social media saying how bad we are and what a disgrace we are and all of that stuff. Are we mentally tough enough to block that out?”

“We have another opportunity, like a great opportunity. Obviously, when you build something up to where you to do, you want to play the best.”

“This is a team that's is up there in the conversation to be one of the best in the nation this year, and rightfully so. It's something that we gotta go out there and we've got to go out there and get one game better. There needs to be a ton of growth from Game 1 to Game 2 for our program.”

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