The Oregon Ducks still haven’t settled the quarterback picture heading into their road trip to face the Illinois Fighting Illini at Gies Memorial Stadium.
After two straight home games, Oregon heads into the matchup with senior Brock Thomas, junior Dylan Raiola and injured senior Dante Moore all part of the conversation. Moore remains sidelined after suffering a concussion against USC, and his status will be updated when the Ducks release their availability report on Wednesday.
Thomas started in Oregon’s 17-14 win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Autzen Stadium, but a sluggish offensive showing opened the door for Raiola in the fourth quarter. Raiola gave the offense a lift, finishing 11-18 for 59 yards and a touchdown in that one-quarter stint to help seal the victory.
Still, coach Dan Lanning made it clear during his weekly pregame press conference that one game - or even one quarter - won’t decide the job.
"There's always competition in positions, right?" Lanning said.
"There's always competitions in positions. Obviously, it's funny; the week before, you guys were wondering why did I take so long to switch to Dylan, right?'
Lanning said the decision process stretches well beyond game-day production and includes what the quarterbacks have done in practice during the week. He pointed to that same approach in 2025 when explaining why Thomas earned the backup role behind Moore.
"There's a body of work that happens between Monday and Friday that is used to evaluate that. Brock the week before went 11- for-15, and you can say, oh, the first series, he threw two incomplete passes," Lanning said.
He also defended the timing of the switch from Raiola to Thomas against Nebraska, saying the coaching staff wanted Thomas to settle into the offense rather than yank him at the first sign of trouble. Lanning said the same kind of patience applies when quarterbacks are dealing with a messy pocket and constant pressure up front, especially on the offensive line at tackle.
"Why didn't you switch him right then? If we switched every time somebody made a mistake, right?
We'd have a lot of switches within ball games. That's just not the way it works.
Players have to have an opportunity to get in a rhythm. Brock wasn't in a rhythm.
We weren't effectively moving the ball. But it was a tight game, right?"
Lanning said.
That comment points back to Raiola’s three turnovers against UCLA, which led to Thomas taking over in the fourth quarter.
"And we felt like ultimately protecting the ball was going to lead to an opportunity to have success," Lanning added. "He had protected the ball better in the week, similar to what I said in my previous conference here Saturday after the game."
For now, Oregon will keep sorting it out in practice. With Moore out, Thomas and Raiola appear set to continue battling for the starting job until game day arrives.
In Other News...
Oregon Is In Position For A Big Hawaiian QB Recruiting Win
Oregon has put itself in the mix for one of the more intriguing young quarterbacks on the West Coast, as Hunter Fujikawa trimmed his early college list to six schools and included the Ducks among them. The 2028 recruit from Mililani High School in Hawaii is rated by 247Sports as the No. 17 quarterback and No. 237 overall player in his class, a sign that this is a name worth tracking closely as his recruitment develops.
Fujikawa is still weighing possible visits to Oregon, Arizona State, Arizona, UCLA, Stanford and Ole Miss, so there is a long way to go before anything settles down. Even so, the Ducks have a potential edge in the form of future teammate Toa Satele, the linebacker already committed to Oregon, and that connection could matter as the process starts to take shape. [Read more 🡒]
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The name to keep an eye on is Zion Elee, the freshman edge rusher and former top recruit who could become available if he decides a fresh start is best. For Oregon, it would be a familiar kind of reminder that recruiting battles do not always end on signing day, and even a miss can come back around if the transfer market opens the door. [Read more 🡒]
Dante Moores Return Could Decide How NFL Teams View Him
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Scouts still view Moore as a legitimate prospect, and the early buzz around the 2027 NFL Draft has placed him anywhere from the first round to early Day 2. But the concern is obvious: injuries and limited playing time can make it harder to separate talent from projection, even for a quarterback teammates describe as a leader away from the field. How he responds when he gets back on the field may matter as much as the next box score. [Read more 🡒]