Oregon quarterback Dylan Raiola is back on top of the world in Eugene after leading the Ducks to a thrilling 17-14 come-from-behind win over Nebraska on Saturday at Autzen Stadium.
Raiola replaced starting quarterback Brock Thomas in the fourth quarter with Oregon (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten) trailing 14-6. The junior finished 11-of-18 for 59 yards and threw the game-winning touchdown to Jamari Johnson with 28 seconds remaining.
His performance kept the Ducks’ College Football Playoff hopes alive and appeared to stabilize the team’s quarterback room ahead of Saturday’s road trip to Illinois, while starting quarterback Dante Moore’s availability remains uncertain following a concussion.
Raiola met with the press Wednesday at Hatfield-Dowling Complex to discuss Oregon’s quarterback situation, family support and preparations for the Fighting Illini.
On Dante Moore’s Role
“He’s at practice doing as much as he can, but most of his help comes in the meeting rooms. He’s played a lot of ball. He’s got a lot of reps in this offense, and the plays that we’ve ran.”
“He’s just given us game experiences that he’s seen for himself and gives us kind of perspective on what we can think, like, what’s going to happen on this play or that play.”
Learning From His Previous Start
“Obviously, that’s in the past. But I did go back and look through that week of preparation that I had, and I kind of tweaked some things in my routine, and I think that made a big adjustment in how I was able to play free, play clean.”
“So making those tweaks give me a lot of confidence going forward. I’m not going to dwell from that experience. I’m going to learn from it. My team has my back, and I got theirs.”
His First True Quarterback Competition
“I don’t think… I mean, obviously … I don’t even know how to put this. That’s a really good question. No. But (laughs) also, I went to Buford (Ga.), and they’re a pretty college-like program, and when I got there, it wasn’t handed to me.”
“I had to earn it. I had to go out there and show the coaches I could operate the system, take care of the football and ultimately make plays. But nothing like this, which is great.”
Handling Mental Challenges
“I mentioned it a lot, but my faith keeps me grounded. I think a lot of people say it, but to have the actions behind it, stay on my word. My mom is a prayer angel. She’s always praying for myself, my family and also my entire team.”
“I just have a lot of support. My teammates are great. They never wavered their confidence in me, Brock, KJ and any of the QBs. You learn a lot. You learn a lot about yourself. You learn a lot about people around you through hard times.”
Having His Brother Dayton Raiola at Oregon
“My brother’s been my best friend for a long time. I think it’s a blessing to have him here, especially through this last month. It’s kind of been a rollercoaster of emotions up and down. My brother has been there for me this month, but he’s been there for me my whole life. Very blessed to have him. It’s a special relationship we have to be able to share in this setting of our lives.”
Overcoming Inconsistent Performances
“I always fall back to my training. The offseason, make it really hard on yourself to make things extremely challenging. It gives me the ability to go out there and be free. We have great coaches that give us a great game plan that we can trust and that we can go out there and execute.”
“When I’m out there, I’m not thinking about not messing up. I truly believe that our offense are all game-changing players, and we all believe that and trust each other."
"When we go out there, it’s not a hesitant activity out there. We’re trying to take your head off, and we’re trying to hunt every single time we go out there.”
Building Chemistry with Young Receivers
“It’s been great. They come to work every day. They show up, and they learn, and they grow. Tuesday and Wednesday, we get after it on the practice field and that gives them a lot of confidence being able to go against our defense. They give us really good looks.”
“We’re really confident. We won’t roll out there any guys who we are not confident in and that’s our entire room. We’re all confident that they’re going to make plays when we need them to.”
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