A Heisman-like performance in Happy Valley

Quick — name the second player in University of Oregon football history to win the Heisman Trophy.

Oops. Sorry. Just messing with you, the Ducks have only had one Heisman winner, Marcus Mariota, in 2014.

But I still have an answer: Dante Moore.

I’ve taken a leap into the future on this one: I’m talking to you from the Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. It’s Dec. 13, 2025.

I watch the humble Moore hold the trophy, move it around in his hands and look shyly at the ground in a moment of disbelief.

I see Dan Lanning beam with pride.

I see the other candidates, Miami quarterback Carson Beck, Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, sit there listening to Moore as he accepts the most prestigious award in college football.

Back to today, a day after one of the greatest wins in UO football history, an epic 30-24 double overtime win over No. 3 Penn State in front of 111,015 fans in Happy Valley. I can’t stop thinking about how impressive the Duck’s field general has been during the season’s first month.

“I think we got the best quarterback in college football, right?” Lanning said after the game, Oregon’s 11^th straight Big Ten Conference win in as many games since joining the league last year. 

“Anybody who watches that game. I don’t know, maybe I don’t see everybody else, but that guy’s composure, his poise,” Lanning said of Moore.

The redshirt sophomore completed 29 of 39 passes for 248 yards and three touchdowns. 

The No. 6 Ducks — who will almost certainly get some No. 1 votes Sunday and will likely be ranked No. 2 behind top-ranked Ohio State — had no turnovers as Moore played on his biggest stage yet.

“Dude breeds excellence, man, he’s just very composed,” said Oregon linebacker Bryce Boettcher. “I mean, he’s 20 years old and the maturity out of him is incredible. I’m glad to have him on our side.”

Any team in America would be glad to have Moore on its side.

You know Penn State loves its senior quarterback, Drew Allar, but he was outplayed on his home field by Moore and saw his Heisman chances pretty much vanish.

Allar completed 14 of 25 passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns, but spent most of the night dealing with an Oregon defense that had Allar running for his life.

Moore has thrown for 1,210 yards and 14 touchdowns, completing 100 of 134 pass attempts with just one interception. 

Not eye-popping numbers by any means, but the guy rarely makes a mistake.

Showing poise against the Ducks’ first four opponents, who are now a combined 6-12 on the season, is one thing. 

But doing it in front of a deafening crowd that was the second-largest in Penn State history, a crowd that would outnumber the city of Bend by about 5,000 folks, well, that’s the stuff of Heisman winners.

That’s Doug Flutie stuff. Tim Tebow stuff. Jim Plunkett, Baker Mayfield, Jayden Daniels, Joe Burrow and, of course, Marcus Mariota stuff.

And it sets up an early Heisman showdown, Oct. 11 at Autzen Stadium, when the 5-0 Ducks take on the 5-0 Indiana Hoosiers, who will certainly sneak into the top 10 after a 20-15 road win Saturday over Iowa.

Hoosier quarterback Fernando Mendoza threw for 233 yards and two touchdowns against Iowa; his numbers are eerily close to Moore’s. 

He’s thrown for 1,208 yards in five games, two less than Moore, and 16 touchdowns, two more than Moore. 

Mendoza found himself the Heisman favorite in some odds last week after completing 21 of 23 passes for 267 yards and five touchdowns in the Hoosiers’ 63-10 rout of then-No. 9 Illinois.

Moore was listed right behind him by BetMGM, an online sports betting platform, followed by Beck and Smith.

“In those critical moments, who do you want to have the ball, who do you want to have it in their hands?” Lanning said. “And he did an unbelievable job.”

Not just physically, running the ball more often than usual when Oregon needed a first down on third-and-short or even fourth-and-short, but mentally, too.

“This was a game we needed to win,” Lanning said. “And we were going to run our quarterback at times, and he took some hits, man. But that guy is tough, man, tough as nails.”

After leading 17-3 early in the fourth quarter, Penn State scored twice to send the game to overtime. Then they scored again on the first OT possession.

Twenty-one unanswered points. The vibe for the Ducks had flown south, quickly.

Needing a touchdown or else, Moore threw an 8-yard dart to Gary Bryant Jr. for a first down; recovered running back Jayden Limar’s fumble to keep Oregon’s hopes alive; then scored on a designed run on fourth-and-1 from the 5 to send the game into a second OT.

Then, on the first play of that second OT, Moore scrambled right after Penn State edge rusher Dani Dennis-Sutton came flying at him unblocked, then threw to Bryant crossing over the middle for what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown.

But for Moore, it’s never about Moore.

“Coming out with the win and making sure we got big-time conversions was huge for us,” he said.

For us.