Dante Moore’s return to Oregon isn’t just about another season at quarterback. It’s about the Ducks building the offense around him in a way most first-year coordinators don’t usually do.
When new offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer sat down with Moore this spring, he didn’t come in with a one-way directive. Moore said Mehringer asked him what he liked and what he didn’t like, then the two of them went through Oregon’s entire playbook and changed things up. That kind of collaboration says plenty about where this offense is headed: less about forcing Moore into a system, more about tailoring the system to him.
Mehringer is replacing Will Stein, who left to become Kentucky’s head coach, but Oregon isn’t starting from scratch. Mehringer spent four years in Eugene as tight ends coach and co-offensive coordinator under Dan Lanning, so Moore is dealing with a new play-caller rather than a totally new setup.
Moore also made a massive decision to come back. He passed on nearly $50 million in guaranteed money and a top-two selection in the 2026 NFL Draft to return for this exact arrangement. Now he’s got a rebuilt cast around him, and it’s a good one.
Evan Stewart is back after the torn patellar tendon that wiped out all of 2025. CBS Sports ranked Oregon’s pass-catching group No. 1 in the country entering the season, ahead of Miami and Texas. Dakorien Moore is set for a larger role after an injury-shortened freshman year, Jamari Johnson steps in as the top tight end target after Kenyon Sadiq left for the NFL, and UAB transfer Iverson Hooks gives the Ducks another slot option.
One analyst who covers the position group projected that two Oregon receivers could each top 1,000 yards this season, which would be the first time that’s happened for the Ducks since Bo Nix’s final year running the offense in 2023.
Still, the real issue with Dante Moore isn’t talent. It’s what happens when the lights get brightest.
Against ranked opponents in 2025, Moore threw five interceptions and only three touchdowns in four games. He was sacked 17 times all season, and 11 of those came in those same four games. The roughest moment came on the first play of the Peach Bowl, when Indiana’s D’Angelo Ponds read his eyes and took an interception back for a touchdown on Oregon’s opening snap of the College Football Playoff semifinal.
Moore also fumbled in that game, and Indiana turned both giveaways into a 56-22 blowout that ended Oregon’s season. Afterward, Moore said the quarterback has to protect the football first, and that becomes the baseline for what Oregon needs from him against the kind of teams that exposed him last year.
Those tests are waiting right on the schedule. Oregon opens Sept. 5 at home against Boise State at 3:30 p.m.
ET on CBS. But the games that will really shape the season are the road trip to USC on Sept. 26, the trip to Ohio State on Nov. 7, and home matchups with Michigan on Nov. 14 and Washington on Nov.
Phil Steele’s preseason Heisman list has Moore at No. 2, behind only Arch Manning. And there’s a recent blueprint for winning the award in a schedule like this one: Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza did it last season by beating Oregon, Penn State and Ohio State in succession, including the Big Ten Championship Game.
Moore has more help this time than he did a year ago. The question is whether he can handle the same type of opponents that unraveled Oregon last season. That answer will go a long way toward deciding whether the Ducks finally win the national championship they’ve never won.
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Oregons New Indoor Facility Is Starting To Look Like Something Different
Oregons new indoor training facility is taking shape beside the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex, and the 170,000-square-foot addition already looks like more than a standard practice building. The project, known as 2.MO, is designed around a curved timber roof and a sustainability-minded footprint, with solar panels part of the plan as the Ducks continue building out a space meant to match the scale of the program.
The facility is also being tied to a broader reshaping of the area around Autzen Stadium, with parkway changes, added parking and other access work already part of the effort. Inside, the focus is on giving athletes more than just a place to train, with a rooftop lounge, classroom space and other football-specific amenities helping define what this next phase of Oregon infrastructure is supposed to be, even as the full picture is still coming into view. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon Is Suddenly Facing A Huge Decision With Elite Edge Target
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For the Ducks, this is the sort of swing piece that can shape the early feel of a class, especially with Prescotts profile as a disruptive edge target drawing national attention. Oregon has stayed in the hunt, but the final stretch now comes down to whether the Ducks can close against two heavyweight programs before the announcement goes public. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon Enters Media Days With One Massive Question Over 2026
The Big Tens annual Media Days arrive in Chicago from July 28 to 30, and Oregon is set to take its turn on July 29 with Dan Lanning joined by Dante Moore, Jamari Johnson and Teitum Tuioti. For the Ducks, it is a useful checkpoint in the middle of summer, a chance to hear how the program is framing its progress and where it believes the biggest gains still need to come before the 2026 season begins.
Moore gives Oregon a steady presence at quarterback, while Johnson is among the players whose role could become much more prominent as the offense evolves. But the larger conversation around the Ducks is hard to miss: after getting close in the College Football Playoff and absorbing the kind of postseason lessons that linger, Oregon enters this week with the same question hovering over everything it does, and Media Days should offer the first real clues about how Lanning plans to answer it. [Read more 🡒]