Dan Lanning impressed with QB Dante Moore as No. 6 Oregon looks ahead to Oklahoma St

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After having a look at the film, Oregon coach Dan Lanning was still as impressed with Dante Moore's debut for the Ducks as he was immediately following the team's opener.

Moore completed 18 of 23 passes for 213 yards and three touchdowns in the Ducks' 59-13 rout on Saturday of Montana State. And he spread the ball around, hitting 10 different receivers.

“There were a lot of moments where, you know, the first read wasn’t there, and you see him going through the progression and get into a second read, took care of the ball. There were very few ball-in-jeopardy type plays,” Lanning said. "I thought he made good decisions and looked really poised back there.”

That wasn't so different from Lanning's first impressions of Moore's performance, which he described as sharp.

Moore, who spent last season as Dillon Gabriel's backup after transferring from UCLA, will get a chance to add to his Oregon resume on Saturday when the No. 6 Ducks host Oklahoma State.

The Cowboys are coming off a 27-7 victory in their opener last week over UT Martin. But Oklahoma State starter Hauss Hejny, who transferred from TCU, broke a bone in his left foot in the first quarter. He later required surgery.

Zane Flores, a third-year freshman who redshirted his first season then received a medical hardship waiver last year, went the rest of the way, completing 13 of 20 passes for 136 yards.

While Hejny is expected to be back at some point, Flores gets the daunting task of making his first-ever start against the Ducks at Autzen Stadium, which is known for being loud and disruptive to visiting teams.

"Our coaches need to put him in a good position,” Cowboys coach Mike Gundy said. “And he needs to go play and be aggressive, not look over his shoulder, and he needs to go out and do what he's done all his life, to play quarterback, play hard and have fun and compete.”

Oregon expects that even though Oklahoma State will have Flores at QB, they'll still be a deep threat because of senior receiver Terrill Davis, who led all players nationally with 1,609 receiving yards last season at Central Oklahoma.

He caught two passes for 75 yards last week, including a 41-yard pass from Flores in the third quarter.

"This will probably be the team that we play that takes the most vertical shots down the field to date that we’ve seen, and probably my time here," Lanning said.

Noah Whittington set the tone against Montana State, running for 35 yards on the first play of the game. Given the start in the opener over Tulane transfer Makhi Hughes, Wittington finished with 10 carries for 68 yards and a touchdown against the Bobcats.

"We’ve got a bunch of guys that can play winning football, and that’s the challenge for us to figure out,” Lanning said. "But we get to see it every single day in practice. And these guys would tell you that Noah Whittington has earned that every single day in practice, with his leadership and how he’s worked.”

Although much has been made about Gundy and Lanning trading comments this week on the disparity in NIL spending between programs, and whether such inequities should impact nonconference scheduling, it was clear that both coaches have respect for each other.

“He’s been one of the best of the best in the business, and adapted with times,” Lanning said about Gundy. “I mean, anytime you’re able to be somewhere as long as he’s been, I think he’s only had two seasons where he didn’t have winning seasons in his time there. So that speaks a little bit about their culture. I think it’s derived from him and what they do.”

Oklahoma State linebacker Wendell Gregory was arrested Saturday on charges connected to an alleged theft of merchandise from a local Walmart. His status for Saturday's game was not known, but Gundy said at Monday’s press conference that the Cowboys would “proceed as normal" and any updates would be provided by the athletic department.

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