Oregon Overcomes Quarterback Injury to Top USC 41-27 in Los Angeles
The short version
- No. 16 Oregon beat No. 12 USC 41-27 on Sept. 26 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
- Dante Moore left the game on a stretcher and was taken to L.A. General Hospital; he is in recovery and moving, per Dan Lanning.
- USC's Desman Stephens II was ejected for targeting after a hit to Moore's head during a slide.
- Backup Dylan Raiola threw for 289 yards and two touchdowns in relief.
No. 16 Oregon answered the loss of quarterback Dante Moore to a first-half ejection-worthy hit by rallying past No. 12 USC at the Coliseum.
No. 16 Oregon defeated No. 12 USC 41-27 on Sept. 26 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, a game with playoff implications and no small amount of pride at stake for both programs. The announced attendance was 75,500. What the Ducks will remember most, though, is how the night tested them.
Quarterback Dante Moore, considered a Heisman Trophy candidate entering the season, was taken by ambulance to L.A. General Hospital after a hit to the head late in the second quarter. Moore had scrambled 10 yards and was sliding feet first with 10:04 remaining in the period when USC linebacker Desman Stephens II lunged and struck him in the head. Moore's head snapped back and hit the turf hard.
The scene that followed was unsettling. Moore remained motionless while medical personnel stabilized him over several minutes, and officials and coaches from both staffs worked to keep players from escalating into a brawl. He was eventually strapped to a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance positioned in the west end zone. Stephens was disqualified for targeting, and he watched the remainder of the contest from the USC sideline in street clothes after having celebrated the hit and taunted the Oregon bench.
Coach Dan Lanning described the hit as "disgusting" and said afterward that the targeting rule exists for exactly this kind of play, adding that it could have been avoided. He also provided a cautious update on Moore's condition: the quarterback is in recovery and has the ability to move, though Lanning declined to speculate further or say whether Moore would fly home to Eugene with the team.
Oregon was behind on the scoreboard when Moore went down, but not for long. The Ducks scored two plays later, when backup Dylan Raiola connected with Evan Stewart on a 3-yard touchdown that knotted the game at 10-10. Raiola, a former five-star recruit who started two seasons at Nebraska before transferring to Oregon in the offseason expecting to back up Moore for a year, finished with 289 passing yards and two touchdowns while guiding six scoring drives.
Raiola admitted the moment was hard to process, warming up only yards from his injured teammate. He said Moore means a great deal to him personally and to the roster, and that the group responded by making the rest of the night about him. Wide receiver Dakorien Moore echoed that sentiment, saying the locker-room message was simple: do it for Dante and make him proud.
Before play resumed, Lanning gathered his squad for a prayer, both for Moore's health and for their own composure. He acknowledged tempers flared at points but praised his players for keeping their focus between the whistles for the remainder of the contest. Lanning himself was visibly upset on the sideline while trainers attended to Moore.
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