Oregon’s trip to Illinois has turned into more than just a Week 8 conference matchup. It’s also a quarterback puzzle, one that Bret Bielema knows well enough to respect and complicated enough to call unusual.
Bielema made it clear he has plenty of regard for Dan Lanning and the Ducks after watching Oregon’s latest game unfold.
“Obviously, Oregon (played) in a four-quarter game on Saturday,” Bielema said. “I made it til half, and knew I was going to watch that game a lot. But obviously, a lot of respect for Dan and his staff and his program and what they’ve been able to accomplish.”
The bigger issue for both teams is health, especially under center. Oregon is still sorting through Dante Moore’s status after his concussion against USC on Sept. 26 sent him to the hospital before he returned to Eugene with the team.
He has missed the last two games, but has been practicing over the past two weeks, and Lanning has said the program is being careful with his return. Moore has not been ruled out yet for the matchup with Illinois, and the first injury report comes Wednesday at 5 p.m.
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Illinois is dealing with its own quarterback setback. Senior Katin Houser is expected to miss four to six weeks after a procedure on his throwing hand.
“I think they’ve kind of experienced the same things in the weekend. Katin (Houser) got hurt,” Bielema said.
“There were three or four teams around the league that lost their potential No. 1 guy for a certain part of time. Part of college football that we’re seeing now, and I think the biggest thing for us is take advantage of the moment.”
Houser’s absence matters. In six games, he has thrown for 1,440 yards, 12 touchdowns and a 66.3 percent completion rate, while adding 120 rushing yards and two scores on the ground.
Bielema’s headache, though, is not just Illinois’ own injury situation. It’s figuring out which Oregon quarterback his defense might see.
Moore could be back. Brock Thomas could start again after getting the nod last week.
Dylan Raiola is also in the mix.
“They’ve gone through some injuries, and you knew how that was going to change things, as you saw, obviously, with the quarterback transition in the fourth quarter, a guy that we’ve seen before,” Bielema said. “Raiola’s obviously a very accomplished player.
Kind of almost unusual. You have to prepare for possibly three quarterbacks on Saturday.”
Oregon has already had a taste of that uncertainty. In the Ducks’ 17-15 loss to No. 9 UCLA in Week 7, Nico Iamaleava exited with an injury, Thomas came in and threw for 156 yards and a touchdown on 11-for-15 passing, and Raiola later took over after Thomas struggled against Nebraska.
Against the Cornhuskers, Thomas went nine-for-20 for 54 yards and an interception. Raiola then entered at the start of the fourth quarter and finished with 59 passing yards, a touchdown and a two-point conversion.
If Raiola is the answer against Illinois, he would bring more experience than Thomas. In 2026, he has thrown for 515 yards, six touchdowns and a 64.4 percent completion rate, and he already spent two years starting at Nebraska, topping 2,000 passing yards in both seasons.
There’s also another wrinkle: Illinois was the opponent in Raiola’s first Big Ten game back in 2024 as a true freshman. He threw for 297 yards, three touchdowns and an interception while completing 68.6 percent of his passes in a 31-24 overtime loss. He also rushed seven times for minus-52 yards and was sacked six times.
If Raiola gets the call again against the Illini, Oregon will be asking him to produce a very different result this time around.
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