Dylan Raiola threw three complete passes right on target during Oregon’s first possession of the ball; a first down pass to Dakorien Moore, a behind the line of scrimmage toss to Evan Stewart for a yard or so and a five-yard completion to Jalen Lott.  His next seven passes were incomplete; some way too far, some way to short. two well defended and the others left or right of target.  For the next two quarters he completed only passes behind the line of scrimmage and threw two abnormal interceptions.

            What caused the change in Dylan’s passes?  I believe it happened when there was 1:46 left on the clock in the 1^st quarter and Dylan threw into coverage, leaving him standing fully exposed.  UCLA DL Amier Washington, arriving late, smashed Dylan to the ground, landing hard.  The flag flew and roughing the passer was called.  I was surprised that Dylan got up.

            From that time on Dylan Raiola was not the same player he was against USC two weeks earlier.  I recognized it and told my spouse early in the second quarter that he should be replaced in the game.  Why it took the Duck coaches two full quarters to recognize it is a mystery.  Another mystery is why the official who threw the flag did not eject Washington from the game.  His clear intent was to injure the Oregon QB.

            I have no idea whether Dylan was hurt physically, or mentally, or both.  I have no doubt that hit from Washington changed the game.

This is not remotely meant to be sarcastic, but the poor kid was so far off, is there a chance he was ill and didn't say anything?

I think the likelihood of that is quite low, but he was just miles and miles so far off of his game that I feel like the question is not all that unreasonable...

Because we all know that the kid can flat out play ball. How he led the Ducks in such difficult circumstances against USC, and played, proved that.

Whatever the reason it was coaching malpractice to start him in the 2nd half.

4 minutes ago, Desert Duck said:

Because we all know that the kid can flat out play ball. How he led the Ducks in such difficult circumstances against USC, and played, proved that.

Maybe the USC game was an aberration? USC’s defense is not good and perhaps coming off the bench reduced the expectations/pressure on him. The entire team was fired up after the cheap shot on DM.

Word out of spring ball was Dylan Riola was not good. He reportedly improved in the fall.

I’m not sure which Riola is the real one. It’s most likely somewhere between the USC and UCLA performances but I’ve seen enough to know that I would not feel comfortable with Oregon’s chances next year to make the playoffs, if he is the presumptive starter.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by OregonDucks

2 minutes ago, OregonDucks said:

Maybe the USC game was an aberration. USC’s defense is not good and maybe coming off the bench reduced the expectations/pressure. The entire team was fired up after the cheap shot on DM.

Word out during spring ball was Dylan Riola was not good. He reportedly improved in the fall.

I’m not sure what Riola is the real one. It’s most likely somewhere between the USC and UCLA performances but I’ve seen enough to know that I would not feel comfortable with Oregon’s chances next year, if he is the presumptive starter.

If it's not Dante on Saturday, I think we definitely should go with the local kid from Sheldon High School.

After all, Sheldon High has been rather good to the Ducks throughout the years, including a couple fairly-decent QBs by the names of Chris Miller & Justin Herbert.

Maybe Brock is just a slightly later bloomer.

Watched that hit, while it was a dirty play that targeted our QB, it was not a hit that kept him on the turf. Dylan popped up and was immediately ready for the next play. He gave nobody a reason to believe he had injured ribs, or any other physical injury.

He was sailing passes over receivers heads before the hit, and under throwing his passes afterwards.

5 turnovers, poor offensive scheme, and sub par QB play from our starter is what really happened.