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The No. 20 Oregon Ducks earned a hard-fought 41-27 road victory over the No. 12 USC Trojans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday night, but the emotional win came at a steep cost. Star starting quarterback Dante Moore left the field in an ambulance during the second quarter following a terrifying, late targeting hit by USC linebacker Desman Stephens.
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Officials ejected Stephens immediately, leaving the Ducks shaken on the sideline. However, backup quarterback Dylan Raiola stepped into the huddle under difficult circumstances and led Oregon with remarkable poise. Raiola kicked off his postgame press conference with a heartfelt message dedicated to his injured teammate.
“I just wanna say, you know for my brother 5, seeing him like that, it shook the whole team,” Raiola said. “At the same time, we knew that that was our brother and we was gonna fight for him. I just wanna say this to 5, love you brother and get better.”
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Raiola backed up his words on the gridiron with a stellar performance off the bench. The transfer signal-caller completed 19 of 25 passes for 289 yards and two touchdowns to guide Oregon’s offense to 504 total yards. He hit wide receiver Evan Stewart for a three-yard touchdown on his second snap and later fired a go-ahead 29-yard touchdown strike to wide receiver Dakorien Moore in the fourth quarter. Running back Dierre Hill Jr. added two rushing touchdowns, while running back Jordon Davison sealed the game with a two-yard touchdown run.
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USC quarterback Jayden Maiava threw for 326 yards and two touchdowns as the Trojans rallied from ten points down to tie the game at 27-27. However, Oregon’s defense responded with a late fourth-down stop to lock up the win. Head coach Dan Lanning called the hit on Moore “disgusting,” but praised his team’s resilience. Moving to 3-1 on the season, the Ducks proved their brotherhood runs deep.
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