The Oregon Ducks (93-2 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) are on the road after two straight home games to face the Illinois Fighting Illini at Gies Memorial Stadium, and there's still question marks surrounding who will start at quarterback for Oregon.
Though senior Brock Thomas led the Ducks into their Autzen Stadium 17-14 victory against the Nebraska Cornhuskers, his poor performance led to junior Dylan Raiola getting tapped into the fourth quarter to help put a jolt into a lackluster offense.
Dan Lanning Comments on Quarterback Situation
During his weekly pregame press conference, coach Dan Lanning assured that even though Raiola put up 11-18 with 59 yards and a touchdown in the air during that one quarter appearance to clinch the win, there's still more road ahead for determining the true leader for Oregon while senior starter Dante Moore continues to sit out after a concussion against USC.
"There's always competition in positions, right?" Lanning said. "There's always competitions in positions. Obviously, it's funny; the week before, you guys were wondering why did I take so long to switch to Dylan, right?'
For Lanning and crew, there's an emphasis on looking beyond just the production in-game, but also measured research of the quarterbacks during the prior weeks' practices to determine which quarterback is the most ready to lead, a fact Lanning shared in 2025 when explaining why Thomas earned his spot as Moore's backup.
"There's a body of work that happens between Monday and Friday that is used to evaluate that. Brock the week before went 11- for-15, and you can say, oh, the first series, he threw two incomplete passes," Lanning said.
Settling Into The Duck Offense
Lanning also argued that the prolonged replacement of Raiola for Thomas against Nebraska was in an effort to allow Thomas to get acclimated to Oregon's offense. To be fair to Lanning's point, Thomas (and Oregon's other quarterbacks) are continually pressured due to issues on Oregon's offensive line (tackles specifically), so being able to adjust to the earlier-folding pocket and make quick decisions is a tall order (and one of the reasons Raiola performed so poorly against the UCLA Bruins).
"Why didn't you switch him right then? If we switched every time somebody made a mistake, right? We'd have a lot of switches within ball games. That's just not the way it works. Players have to have an opportunity to get in a rhythm. Brock wasn't in a rhythm. We weren't effectively moving the ball. But it was a tight game, right?" Lanning said.
Lanning is likely referencing Raiola's three turnover against the UCLA Bruins, which led to the former Cornhusker being swapped out for Thomas in the fourth quarter.
"And we felt like ultimately protecting the ball was going to lead to an opportunity to have success," Lanning added. "He had protected the ball better in the week, similar to what I said in my previous conference here Saturday after the game."
What About Dante Moore?
Ruled as "out" against the Cornhuskers last week, Moore's status will be updated when the Ducks release an availability report on Wednesday before facing Illinois.
Until game day, Lanning and crew will continually evaluate in practice, as Thomas and Raiola likely battle for the coveted starting job.
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