In week 2 of the season, Oklahoma State enjoyed a 39-31 win over the No. 21 Ducks (1-1) and sent a message to all of college football.
They’ve cracked the code on Oregon quarterback Dante Moore.
Cowboys players have admitted in the days after the historic upset win that snapped a 21-game FBS losing streak, the longest such skid in the Power 4, that they discovered a read on Moore.
The Oregon quarterback has a potential “tell” in his mechanics and Oklahoma State (1-1) made the junior Heisman hopeful pay for it with an embarrassing loss that could have enormous ramifications for the Ducks’ playoff aspirations. It’s possible, however, that Oklahoma State did Oregon a favor as Moore now heads back to film study and the practice field at the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex to correct the issue.
Moore addressed the potential tells in his footwork on Tuesday:
“Yeah, every player has tendencies. It can be to the NFL, it can be to college, it can be anybody. You know, that’s why there’s coaches on staff that find little details. And, I mean, I’m glad they brought it up. I’m glad that they, you know, got it all into the media.”
“And, I mean, I haven’t been on it (social media) much, but people have been telling me about it. I mean, it just shows me as a player that, you know, I have things that I need to fix, and every player has it, you know. It can be a great thing for a team, and I got to make sure I don’t show it to a defense to help them get into a better check.”
Moore was also asked about the potential of using tendencies to gain an advantage over teams who might be guessing:
“Yeah, you can look at it in both ways. I mean, to fix it and, like you said, use it, you know, as an advantage. So just got to find the clues, the tips, and just make sure that you can, you know, don’t keep doing the bad things. But, like you said, you can play it both ways. So it’s a good point right there,” said Moore.
Telling on Dante Moore
Oklahoma State believed, like a baseball pitcher tipping pitches, that Moore subconsciously alerts opposing defenses to either a run or pass play, simply by the way he aligns his feet pre-snap.
In Moore’s case, the Cowboys observed that the quarterback has a tendency to stagger his feet and position them differently while calling out signals on the line of scrimmage prior to a pass play.
“We were noticing earlier in the week that their offensive line had tendencies that helped us key into the run or pass, and a couple of areas we could take advantage of,” Oklahoma State linebacker Tate Romney said. “Our D-line was really keyed into that, so it was a big advantage for us.”
The approach worked for Oklahoma State as Moore opened the game 1-for-7 for just 45 yards, one week after throwing for a career-high 378 yards in a win over Boise State.
The Path Ahead For Moore and the Ducks Offense
Despite the tell, Oklahoma State still needed a career performance from quarterback Drew Mestemaker, who torched Oregon for 426 yards of total offense and three touchdowns to eke out the win.
Moore settled in, somewhat, after the disastrous start, connecting on 13 of his final 22 attempts to finish with 191 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
And even though the Cowboys defense had an idea of what was coming, sacking Moore four times, they failed to intercept the Oregon quarterback, who has yet to throw a pick in two games and 66 passing attempts this season.
Oregon coach Dan Lanning said they’ve already begun addressing the issue with Moore.
“In general, you have tendencies,” Lanning said. “At times, they’ll show up. We have to do a better job at disguising that, for sure. It’s something we have to search for and make sure we do a good job of. That’s something we have to be better at. Really simple.”
Now that the tell is out in the open, Oregon can not only correct it, but also weaponize it to its advantage by selling different looks designed to confuse defenses.
“On the same note,” Lanning said, “there are going to be times, based on looks, when you have more tells than others, and sometimes you can take advantage of those. You want to sell certain looks for certain things. But I’d say that’s something we have to be better at. That’s one of the things we definitely addressed after the game.”
The Benefit of Oklahoma State’s Reveal
Oklahoma State made a valuable discovery during their film prep, executed it for a historic win, then pulled the ladder up so that no other teams could follow them.
In fact, it’s likely to the Cowboys’ advantage to disclose their findings. Oklahoma State will see its strength of schedule and FBS rankings benefit from every Ducks win the rest of the way.
Moore now gets a chance to self-correct as Oregon looks to prove that one early loss is not a season-ender. They do so against a Portland State (0-3, 0-1 Big Sky) squad that now must prepare for a version of Moore that it hasn’t seen on film.
Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram for the latest news.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
