Oregon loses Dante Moore for the season after firing its OC, with Northwestern next

Oregon will finish its season without the quarterback it built around. Dan Lanning said Monday that Dante Moore is not expected to play again this year. The news came a day after Lanning fired offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer, which leaves the Ducks with a new play-caller and the same quarterback problem as they prepare to host Northwestern on Halloween.

Lanning's weekly press conference was transcribed by Ducks Wire. He said Moore has been practicing and running the scout team but is not cleared for games. The coach said that call was out of his hands and Moore's. Asked directly whether Moore would play again this season, Lanning answered, "I'm not anticipating him being back this season, no." He added that Moore is expected to make a full recovery. ESPN reported that Moore has missed three games with a concussion. In that stretch, Oregon has not scored 20 points in any game and has lost two of them. Dylan Raiola and Brock Thomas have both started in his place. Before the injury, Moore had completed 69.7% of his passes for nine touchdowns and no interceptions.

KGW traced the injury to a late hit in the Sept. 26 game against USC. The 21-10 loss at Illinois last Saturday led to Mehringer's dismissal. ESPN wrote that the loss effectively ended Oregon's College Football Playoff chances. Jay Johnson will now lead the offense. He coached with Lanning at Georgia and later called plays at Colorado and Michigan State. Lanning described the setup as collaborative and said Johnson brings an outside view. He also wants an offense that stays on schedule, converts third downs and finally starts hitting passes downfield.

What it means for Saturday

Johnson's first game as play-caller comes against one of the steadiest teams in the conference. Northwestern is 6-1. Its only loss was 29-23 at No. 5 Indiana, and it has won four straight since then. The latest was a 42-14 win over Rutgers, and before that the Wildcats won 24-21 at Michigan State. Northwestern is scoring about 35 points a game and allowing under 17. It has held five of its seven opponents to 18 points or fewer. Lanning praised the Wildcats for their red-zone defense and for rarely giving up explosive plays. That is a hard first test for an offense that has had trouble moving the ball at all. Ducks Wire also noted that Chip Kelly is Northwestern's offensive coordinator and that quarterback Aidan Chiles has been improving.

Oregon is still favored, but not by much for a home team. Eleven venues have the game on this site's board. Novig has the Ducks at -163 on the moneyline and Northwestern at +153. The best Northwestern price anywhere is Pinnacle's +154, so the gap between venues on that side is small. Novig sets the spread at Oregon -3.5 at -102. BetRivers has the best Oregon price at the same number, at even money. Novig puts the total at 47.5, and other venues range from 46.5 to 48. Sportsbook hold on the moneyline runs from 3.5% to 6.6%.

The Wildcats have already won a close game on the road this season. If Johnson can't fix Oregon's quarterback play quickly, a 3.5-point spread leaves the Ducks very little room.