QuickTake:

Against his former team, Raiola came in at the start of the fourth quarter and provided a spark for Oregon.

For the second time in three weeks, Dylan Raiola played the role of hero. And this time he did it against his former team, which made it that much sweeter. 

Trailing 14-9 with 5:31 to play, Raiola led the Ducks on the winning drive, tossing a 4-yard touchdown pass to Jamari Johnson with 28 seconds left, giving Oregon a 17-14 win over visiting Nebraska. 

The victory is a balm of sorts after a troublesome two weeks that involved the Ducks losing their Heisman hopeful to a concussion and losing to UCLA, a team they’d dominated for nearly two decades. 

But Raiola, a Nebraska transfer who came to Eugene knowing he’d be the backup, helped right the ship temporarily, which means Ducks fans can breathe a sigh of relief for at least another week. With the win over the Huskers, Oregon avoided losing consecutive games for the first time in the Dan Lanning era. 

Former Washington coach Chris Petersen, now an in-studio analyst for Fox Sports, put it best when he said the game — which could generously be described as a rock fight — “just shows you the value of having a great quarterback … they go from a national championship to, you’re just hoping to get a first down!” 

So, no, Dante Moore did not return to lead the Ducks. And yes, it was ugly. But it ended the way Oregon needed it to. 

Of course it came down to the final seconds, as that seems to be the Ducks’ MO this season. With 43 seconds left, at fourth-and-1 on the Nebraska 6, Jordon Davison ran two yards to get the Ducks to first-and-goal. Then Raiola arced a pass to Dakorien Moore, the official signaled a touchdown late and … it was overturned. (It was an easy call, Moore was bobbling the ball out of bounds.) But then Raiola found Johnson, the Ducks were successful on the two-point conversion, and Oregon got to go home happy. 

“Hey man, winning’s hard,” Lanning said afterward on the broadcast. “Our guys just found a way. One more second, one more opportunity … Dylan waited all game. He’s an unbelievable teammate, he gets his opportunity and executes.” 

Brock Thomas, a Sheldon High graduate who originally walked on, got the starting quarterback nod one week after Raiola looked flat-out bad in the loss to UCLA. But Thomas didn’t look like an answer, either. Far from it.

The teams combined for eight punts, 74 yards and zero points in the first quarter. It didn’t get better in the second quarter, as the Ducks went into the locker room down a score, staring at a stat sheet full of zeros: 0 points, 0-7 on third down, 0-1 on red zone attempts and 0 All-Americans to sub in to fix it. 

Here’s another zero that’s tough to stomach: In the first half, the teams ran 70 total plays and 34 of them went for zero, or negative, yardage. 

No wonder this game kicked at 8 p.m. local time. Clearly the college football TV decision-makers were trying to save everyone from covering their eyes for three-plus hours. 

But when Lanning finally subbed in Raiola at the start of the fourth, the Oregon offense got a much-needed jolt of energy, and things got interesting.

Late in the game Oregon went for it on fourth-and-1, and Davison rammed himself through three Nebraska defenders for a five-yard gain, pushing the Ducks closer to the end zone. But a few plays later, on third-and-11, Raiola had nowhere to go, threw the ball away and Oregon again had to settle for a field goal. 

Then, a gift: Nebraska went three-and-out on its next drive, giving Oregon another chance. Wilson’s 63-yard punt bounced to the Oregon 18, meaning the Ducks had to go the length of the field. They also had to play with confidence. 

Late in the drive, Oregon went for it on fourth-and-3, and Raiola connected with Jalen Lott to keep the Ducks’ hopes alive. He completed two more passes, one to Lott and one to Dakorien Moore, before handing off to Davison to get to Nebraska’s 15. Then Dierre Hill Jr. ran seven yards to set up third-and-3. Four plays later, the Ducks were in the end zone. 

Raiola finished 11-of-18 for 59 yards and one touchdown. Hill carried 14 times for 67 yards. There wasn’t much to brag about aside from that, but Raiola got the biggest bragging rights of all with a win over his old team. 

“I love Nebraska, that’s my home,” Raiola said on the broadcast afterward. “But it was about Oregon tonight. I didn’t draw it up like that, but God has a perfect plan.”