A little more Dylan Raiola love this Monday morning.

Raiola Fits This Oregon Offense

Dylan Raiola is the type of quarterback needed to run Dan Lanning’s efficiency based offense.

Edited 12 hours ago12 hr by David Marsh

A national championship may be at stake. I think the world of Dante Moore....he is a real gentleman......but.....as a QB.....Dylan is the better choice for the Ducks.

IMHO How this plays out may determine Oregon's future this year.

I'am glad I'am not making the decision....it's a tough call from a human point of view. It could be heart breaking either way.

I hear you but I just don’t see Coach Lanning not riding with Dante Moore the rest of the season, given what he gave up to come back to Oregon and how he was injured. It’s not like he hasn’t been playing well and is the reason for Oregon’s struggles (see offensive line and the defense, which was supposed to be one of the best in Oregon’s history).

What would the implications be for future players deciding whether to forego the NFL draft to come back to Oregon?

That said, I believe that Dylan Raiola has earned some playing time and would love to see him used situationally, as I believe he is more mobile than Dante Moore and could be used for some wrinkles in key situations.

Edited 9 hours ago9 hr by OregonDucks

I have never doubted how much Lanning cares for the well-being of his team. What I want to know is if he can be shrewd enough to make decisions based on what he thinks is best to attain the outcome he has set his sights on. I need to see more of Raiola in order to say whether or not he needs to be the guy going forward. But that's exactly what we may get when we host UCLA in two weeks.

The Bruins are not a slouch and frankly look more dangerous than USC. If Raiola produces at a high efficiency then Lanning may truly have a decision to make. Do what's best for team success moving forward? Or roll with Dante because he earned the spot to start the season. I know which way I'd lean on this but then again I don't make University Of Oregon Head Football Coach money.

USC broke Dylan's leg last season. How about coming off the bench and throwing a TD pass on the first play?

👍👌😁😎😍

Great article David.

After that hit, Dante will always be a Duck legend and deserves much love and respect. Raiola on the other hand, has that it factor that I've been saying is lacking with Moore.

There's a reason the offense could never get out of second gear in Stillwater and the first twenty minutes of the game in LA. When every play is either a run or a checkdown pass or some type of screen, the D is always bunched up by the line and several defenders will always be near by to make a play. With the offense having a more and more difficult time moving the ball, they then get even more cautious which just makes things worse.

When the field opens up, defenders get put on islands having to deal with elite play makers one on one in space. Another benefit is that the check down plays become truly dangerous as the D has already been spread out and few defenders are available to stop them. That's why Moore's cautious style stagnates the offense while Raiola looks more like the Duck legends of the past.

Again I hope Dante makes a full recovery and have nothing but appreciation for the guy but if the Ducks want to reach max potential this year then Raiola is the guy.

David, you bring up the unspoken topic. Dylan looked really good. He clearly benefited from the reps he got against PSU. No guarantee that Dante comes back soon. Dan Lanning will probably have a difficult decision in the near future. Another thought. If Dylan Raiola wins the starting role, and plays well, we could lose QB 1 and 2 at the end of this season.

David, great article and I like how you brought up Raiola's pocket presence. He doesn't run to one sideline and cut off half the field. He steps up and does quick steps to the side while looking downfield. Love it!

58 minutes ago, Babyjesus615 said:

The Bruins are not a slouch and frankly look more dangerous than USC.

USC has better athletes (probably more of their roster will go to the NFL) but UCLA is better coached for sure.

In this case the better coached team is the more dangerous.

35 minutes ago, Santa Rosa Duck said:

If Dylan Raiola wins the starting role, and plays well, we could lose QB 1 and 2 at the end of this season.

And if that's the case...

Dan needs to go portal shopping. It's worked for us before so I am less concerned than I used to be about the matter.

27 minutes ago, David Marsh said:

And if that's the case...

Dan needs to go portal shopping. It's worked for us before so I am less concerned than I used to be about the matter.

Get Sagapoleute on line one!

14 minutes ago, Solar said:

Get Sagapoleute on line one!

They could just head up north 40 minutes and poach Braden Atkinson! Kid is a straight baller.

We haven't seen Raiola vs a defense that actually game planned for him. I liked what he showed, but he still has a lot to prove after just one game.

The flip side: we probably haven't seen what happens when he practices with the starters. This will be interesting and I'm looking forward to the next game.

My concern with Dante is that he has not been very composed when the pocket is collapsing around him. Will this injury exacerbate his lack of poise? It certainly won’t help it and he will likely continue to take the safe outlet pass. I’m quite sure he’s done running upfield.

On the other hand, Raiola did well to sling the ball with pressure in his face. On Dakorian Moore’s TD the LT got driven into his lap and he still got the ball off. I have to think Dante bails on that play and throw to a different receiver.

It may not matter. Dante suffered what looked like a pretty significant concussion. The lingering effects can last for weeks, if not months. My guess is four to six weeks at a minimum. DL will likely look out for his future (as he already mentioned) knowing he has a guy like Raiola taking the reins.

As another poster indicated, I need to see more. If both are available and you had to choose a starter for UCLA, I would stick with Moore for right now.

Dylan played great at USC, which is encouraging to see, but it also wasn’t perfect. That ball he threw to Hampton on the sideline could have easily been picked. Also, on the 3rd down when he rolled to the right, he had Stewart WIDE OPEN on post play for an easy TD and he didn’t see him.

His mechanics are far from perfect. On the throw to Hampton across the middle, he had time to set and get his body over his feet, but he didn’t. As a result, the throw was behind Hampton. Also, the TD throw to DM was late, but it worked.

It’s clear that right now Dylan is more comfortable in the pocket under pressure. It is also clear that Moore’s throwing mechanics are better and he is less likely to put the ball in danger.

USC’s defense is VERY bad and you could argue that it is worse than last year. Does Dylan get away with those throws against a great defense or do they result in a turnover or two? I need to see more against a defense that can actually stop someone. He might get that chance in two weeks against UCLA.

Let me add that they both are exceptional college QBs, so that is a good problem to have.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by GeotechDuck

Sample size is still very small.

He definitely seems to have more of that dynamic slinger to him, sort of like Dillon Gabriel in that way. Dante just seems overly careful...almost stiff by comparison.

Assuming Dante misses UCLA that should provide more to go on. If Dante misses several games and Raiola continues to excel I think it becomes less difficult, if they are deep in the season and rolling... But I'm not completely sold just yet.

I believe in Dan.

Y'all think Lanning will let Raiola start against Nebraska?? That would be a storyline!

Love the topic and the astute comments. Love this forum.

As a former old school coach i always focus on what happens in the trenches, both sides of the ball.

And how the line play affects the ebb and flow of the game. Who is under center matters very little if the line, TE and receivers execute their blocking assignments on the positive side of the line of scrimmage.

In rewatching the PSU and USC games, the line was taking it to the defense. The running backs had running lanes and were up field a few yards before they were touched. In both games all the QB's had time to go thru their progressions and move the chains. Dylan certainly did that well. Dante has shown us all that he is not disciplined in working thru his progressions. Dante has other intangibles that compensate for that.

The receivers and TE hit their blocking assignments and the Ducks had big downfield gains. I know some on this forum don't like those short outs or check downs but remember the playmakers on this team will play on Sundays. I would keep giving them the ball, just like DL is doing.

That is what it takes to win games on the offensive side. Thats why the Ducks scored 17 TD's and 2 FG's in the last 2 games.

It all starts in the trenches. Don't you feel the line play and down field blocking has improved?

The stars can't shine unless the big boys get dirty. The big boys upfront are getting dirtier and dirtier each game. I expect the Bruins and Cornhuskers front sevens will have their handsfull with Duck offense in the next few weeks..

As for the Duck Defense. They played better and with intensity against usuck. I had my concerns heading into the 4th quarter but they came up big and made the stops needed so the Duck O could gain scoreboard separation.

Also the Trojans only got in the Ducks red zone 4 times and scored on 3. That is improvement.

As long as the Ducks keep improving it won't matter who is at the helm. What matters is to go undefeated thru October to be ready for the meat of the schedule, November.

Go Ducks! Dante heal up and the rest of the team, keep improving. An undefeated October will hace the Ducks ranked back inside the top 10.

Sorry David - I should have said thank you for posting a great article before I posted!