Oregon Ducks' Dan Lanning Reveals Why Dakorien Moore, Dante Moore Are Ready To Play

EUGENE - The wait for football at Autzen Stadium is almost over. The No. 7 Oregon Ducks return to the football field for Week One action against the Montana State Bobcats.

Ahead of the game, Oregon coach Dan Lanning addressed quarterback Dante Moore's preparation, why freshman receiver Dakorien Moore is ready to play immediately and his players on NFL rosters.

What Lanning Said:

oregon ducks montana state bobcats dan lanning bryce boettcher rushing attack big ten autzen stadium nikko reed dante moore — Oregon coach Dan Lanning leads his team onto the field before the game against Colorado in Eugene Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023. | Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK

What Goals He Wants To Achieve In Week One:

“I just think always early in the season you see teams that don't play clean. I think we even saw Week Zero games, whether it's penalties, whether it's poor tackling. Your missed tackle rate is the highest as ever, is at the beginning of the season. And I think last season, the game didn't necessarily go the way we wanted,” Lanning said.

“I think we walked away Game One with one missed tackle. There were several teams that had several missed tackles right early in the season. You see it all over tape early. So, we have to tackle well, we have to play clean, efficiently. From an operation standpoint, what personnel is on the field? No pre-snappost-snap or post snap penalties.”

On Cornerback Nikko Reed Making An NFL Roster And So Many Ducks In NFL:

“I think we were able to highlight some of that yesterday. Just as far as our players, I don't know the exact number of how many we've had drafted since we've been here, but I think there's only two of them that are on active rosters now, when it comes to drafting guys and like guys like Nikko, you're thrilled to see them take advantage of an opportunity,” Lanning said.

“Not necessarily care about how they got there, but recognize they get the opportunity to get there. And I'm not one bit surprised with him. He's always been a great player. He operates like a vet. He's had a really good fall camp. It looks like from the outside looking in,” Lanning continued.

“I think they recognize what they have in him. And there's several of our players that have gotten opportunities, and some that didn't get an opportunity yesterday, that are still going to have opportunities moving forward.”

“So those guys, that's a great example of the ones that didn't get it, you know, adversity setting in. Okay, what's my plan? How am I going to attack it? And the guys that made it realizing, hey, this is for today, and rinse due to again tomorrow. So we're very excited about our guys that have done a great job in the NFL, and the opportunities ahead of them.”

What Makes Wide Receiver Dakorien Moore Prepared To Play Immediately:

“I said before, I think he's a perfectionist. He wants to do things the right way, and he's hard on himself. But part of that means that you spend a lot of time in preparation, and preparation is going to create confidence.”

If He Thinks Running Too Many Plays Contributed To Struggles In 2024:

“I think as an entire staff, we challenge ourselves. Just because we ran it in fall camp doesn't mean it's a play that we have to carry into Game One. And we carried a little bit more of our menu in last year. And this is a lot more condensed going into this season of what we want to be able to execute a high level based on our opponent.”

How Different The Program Is From When He Arrived:

“Not a ton as far as reflection, but definitely think we're in a lot different place than we were when we first got here. Just everybody understanding what, what's the task at hand, what it should look like. The standard is raised here. And certainly appreciate all the hard work for our players and staff to give us their back.”

How The Team Responded In Practice This Week:

“I've been really happy with our guys' prep and the work you do. There's a lot of unknowns. When you play in Game One, you're going to see some stuff you haven't prepped for. You're going to see some stuff you haven't, and again, that's where rules have to take over. But I'm really happy, really happy with where they're at.”

Lanning On Quarterback Battle

What Adversity He Wants To See His Quarterbacks Respond To This Weekend:

“All of sudden change moments. You know that we don't know what that adversity will look like, so you prepare for all of it, right? You prepare for every one of those situations. We're not saying we want to go create adversity, but we know that adversity will happen.”

What’s Different About Quarterback Dante Moore’s Preparation:

"I think he's grown since the minute he's been here, right? And he continues to operate like a pro. I wouldn't say there's anything this week that all of a sudden he turned on that had on that hasn't been in operation ever since this offseason, and even coming into last season, I think he's operated like that since he's been here.”

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Oregon has held a competitive starting quarterback battle throughout fall camp. Redshirt sophomores Dante Moore and Austin Novosad have headlined the competition.

Heisman Trophy finalists led the Ducks in their previous two seasons. Both Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel helped the program to the conference championship game.

While the 2025 starter will enter the season with less experience than Nix and Gabriel started their Oregon tenures with, a standard has been set at the position.

Novosad stated in the final week of fall camp that he felt he did the best he can to win the starting role. Meanwhile, many predict Moore to get the starting nod.

Montana State Rushing Attack

A key area where the Ducks will be tested against the Bobcats is in limiting the run game. Oregon linebacker Bryce Boettcher addressed Montana State’s rushing attack on Tuesday but said that the Ducks need to execute their gameplan.

“When you lead in rushing yards, you're doing something right,” Boettcher said. “So, just preparing for what we've seen last year, but who knows what to come out this year, hopefully something we've seen on tape, we really don't know till come game time.”

Lanning added that outrushing their opponents has been a common denominator for the Bobcats in the past. Montana State added former Stanford Cardinal quarterback Justin Lamson to its squad, who further boosts its rushing threat.

“They've always been dangerous when it comes to quarterback run as well,” Lanning said on Monday. “And that's something that you know that Justin (Lamson) shown in his passes ability to run. So it's something we certainly have to prepare for.”

The Ducks lead the nation with a streak of 34 straight nonconference home wins heading into Saturday. Oregon has only lost one home game with Lanning at the helm.

With the early-season matchup against a non-power conference opponent, the Ducks will likely need to win convincingly to rise or stay the same in the polls.