Oregon's star quarterback Dante Moore suffered a scary concussion in Saturday's 41-27 win over USC. In the second quarter, Moore scrambled and started to slide down past the line of scrimmage when USC linebacker Desman Stephens II hit him late in the head. The back of Moore's head bounced off the turf and trainers had to work on him for several minutes before he was taken off on a stretcher and set by ambulance to a local hospital in Los Angeles.
Stephens was called for targeting and ejected from the game, and he drew more criticism once he was seen celebrating while Moore was still on the ground. Oregon later said Moore's MRI and CT scans came back clean, with no other injuries beyond the concussion. Still, there's no timetable for his return, and it was one of the scarier injuries of the 2026 college football season so far.
After the Moore injury happened, though, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning was offered help from an unlikely source: UCLA head coach Bob Chesney. "He text me as they were traveling back to LA and said, 'Hey, if you need my help with Dante or anything and he’s still in LA, I’ll go check on this guy. I’m giving the team off tomorrow; let me know," Lanning said on a recent episode of "The Jim Rome Show." "It speaks to the kind of person he is.
I’ve got a lot of respect for him and his program." More news: Paul Finebaum Goes Scorched Earth on ‘Complete Fraud’ Lincoln Riley More news: Bobby Hauck Under Fire, Out at Illinois After Ohio State Embarrassment Moore, who interestingly started his college career at UCLA in 2023, has no reported relationship with Chesney. But the two coaches faced off against each other last season while Chesney was still the head coach at James Madison. Oregon hosted JMU at Autzen Stadium in the first round of the College Football Playoff, with Lanning's Ducks winning 51-34.
Chesney, coming off a dramatic rise at James Madison, including a 12-win season and CFP berth in 2025, was hired at UCLA in December 2025, but coached JMU in their playoff loss to Oregon. There's clear respect between Chesney and Lanning after that game, and the two coaches are now set to face off again next week as Big Ten opponents. The undefeated Bruins travel to Eugene, Oregon, on Saturday, Oct. 10, a crucial win for both sides who are fighting for the CFP again this season.
As for Moore, he posted earlier this week that he's made progress and aims to be back soon, but it feels likely that he'll miss the UCLA matchup, especially since Oregon has no need to rush him back with Dylan Raiola the backup. Raiola, a former five-star prospect and starter at Nebraska, stepped in for Moore after the injury and led the Ducks to their win over USC with 289 passing yards and two touchdowns with zero interceptions, completing 76% of his passes. More news: UNC Breaks Silence on Bill Belichick’s Son Resigning After Allegations
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