Simplicity from Dante Moore and the Oregon Ducks lead to rout of Montana State

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As players lined up to run out on the field in the moments before Oregon’s season-opening kickoff against Montana State on Saturday, the Oregon Duck mascot exploded out of the tunnel. The fans in attendance at Autzen Stadium responded accordingly, revving up into a roar as the Duck sprinted through the end zone and made his way to the field

What happened next didn’t seem like a good omen for a team that notoriously started slow a season ago when facing a similarly inferior opponent: The 57,257 fans in the stands fell quiet as the Duck tripped over the goal line, fell to the turf and panicked as his head popped off.

“I told our players: sometimes God can teach you a lesson without suffering consequences,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning would say later.

And while Lanning wasn’t talking about the mascot, there really weren’t that many other teaching moments in Oregon’s 59-13 rout of the Bobcats.

The Ducks (1-0, 0-0 Big Ten) didn’t turn the ball over or have a single play for negative yardage. 

They scored on every single one of their offensive possessions — minus the final drive of the game which saw Brock Thomas, the fourth quarterback Oregon used, take a knee to run out the clock. 

Compared to a year ago, when Oregon needed 10 points in the fourth quarter to squeak past FCS-level Idaho, this one was out of reach before the end of the first quarter. Jayden Lamar got the Ducks on the board 63 seconds into the game with a 16-yard touchdown run, the Ducks blocked a punt and went right back down the field with tight end Kenyon Sadiq, who caught a ball 20 yards out, trucked over his defender and waltzed into the end zone.

It was 14-0 Ducks six minutes into the game, and nothing was about to start getting in Oregon’s way.

Sure, it wasn’t all perfect. Gary Bryant Jr. fumbled a punt return — but didn’t lose it. Freshman wide receiver Dakorien Moore blocked the wrong guy once in the third quarter — but still pancaked the defender as Bryant Jr. rolled into the end zone on a 14-yard connection from quarterback Dante Moore.

“I’m really proud of that play,” Lanning said. “He’s blocking the wrong guy but he’s blocking his ass off. That’s what’s exciting — we can make full-speed mistakes and still do an unbelievable job for our team. That’s huge.”

In the one place where the Ducks haven’t seen many mistakes over the last three seasons, Moore was nearly flawless. Making his first start for the Ducks after sitting behind Dillon Gabriel in 2024, Moore completed 18 of his 23 attempts for 213 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

“He was sharp,” Lanning said. “He knew where to go with the ball, was decisive with his reads, was able to make some checks.”

What had the coach smiling more than anything after the game was a throw that Moore decided not to make. Facing a third-and-10 from the Montana State 10-yard line, Moore took the snap, rolled out to his right, looked into the end zone again and again, then ran safely out of bounds for a 5-yard gain.

The Ducks didn’t pick up the first down, but Atticus Sappington drilled a 23-yard field goal on the next play to extend Oregon’s lead to 17-0.

For a coach who said Moore’s success this season will depend on the quarterback doing the simple things right, the choice to avoid the risk and not force a throw was a massive green flag.

“He’s moving to the right and he’s got an opportunity to maybe try to punch one in and throw one in a tight window,” Lanning said. “We’ve made decisions in the past where that’s been a potential takeaway or a ball in jeopardy, and he tucked it, ran it and we ended up kicking the field goal to go up 17.

“So to me, that’s a great decision. That’ll get no hoopla. He didn’t make the extraordinary pass. What do you do? He protects the ball and we walk away with points.”

Moore, who would stretch his one-time five-star arm out on a few throws, said making the short play ensured a civil postgame discussion with his head coach.

“In practice, I’ve done it a couple times and it hasn’t turned out the way I wanted it to turn out, so he’s cussing me out all the time,” Moore said. “So I kind of hear him in the back of my head every time I’m scrambling. ‘Don’t throw it. Don’t throw it.’”

So Moore didn’t throw it, and not doing so made sure — unlike last year when Gabriel played every snap against Idaho — that the redshirt sophomore was basking in his victory on the sidelines come late in the third quarter as Austin Novosad, Luke Moga and Thomas each took a turn running the offense to close out the game.

The Ducks finished with 506 yards of offense to Montana State’s 244. Junior edge Matayo Uiagalelei, the Big Ten’s leading returning sack artist from 2024, took down MSU quarterback Justin Lamson twice. The Bobcats didn’t even reach the red zone until their final possession of the fourth quarter.

It was as good as one of these games can go. And though a top-level FBS team routing an FCS team doesn’t always indicate how things will go the rest of the way against better competition — beginning next week against Oklahoma State — Lanning and the Ducks certainly aren’t complaining a year after the sluggish start against Idaho lingered for a few weeks.

Yes, in 2025 the Ducks began with a decapitation. But a second after losing his head, the mascot ran back into the tunnel to collect himself, then came back out to put on a show.

“This is one step in the right direction,” Lanning said. “Certainly a better start than what we had last season.”