Dan Lanning Regrets Dylan Raiola Decision as He Confirms One Unit Is Badly Hurting Oregon: “Wasn’t Good Enough”

Oregon’s loss to UCLA left Dan Lanning with more questions than answers. The Ducks changed QBs, found a late spark, and still watched a winnable game slip away at Autzen Stadium. Dylan Raiola’s struggles grabbed the attention, but one unit’s problems may be the bigger headache for a team with CFP ambitions.

During his postgame conference, Dan Lanning admitted he could have brought Brock Thomas into the game earlier after Dylan Raiola’s mistakes began piling up. Asked why he waited, the Oregon coach made a big admission. 

“You can always go back and say, ‘Hey, we should have done that earlier,’” he said. “If you knew that turnover was coming, you would have done that earlier.”

He explained that the staff believed Dylan Raiola could make the plays he had shown in practice, but the QB failed to deliver when it mattered. 

“He wasn’t good enough today,” he said. “I think he can acknowledge that. But we didn’t prepare him to be good enough today. We didn’t put him in positions to have success that he needs to have. And we need the best version of Dylan moving forward. Two weeks ago, he was phenomenal.”

Dylan Raiola entered the game with momentum after throwing two touchdown passes in Oregon’s win over USC. Because Dante Moore was still recovering from a concussion he sustained during the game against the Trojans, he remained sidelined, and Moore was filling in for him.

The follow-up performance could hardly have been more different. Dylan Raiola completed just 6 of 18 passes for 43 yards (as per ESPN), threw two interceptions and lost a fumble. Oregon’s offense struggled to move the ball. Dan Lanning finally made the change with 13:31 left in the fourth quarter. The Ducks were trailing 17-6 when Thomas took over.

The replacement offered an immediate lift. Thomas completed 11 of 15 passes for 156 yards and a touchdown, giving Oregon a chance to make things interesting. But the momentum stalled. He fumbled on a fourth-and-1 QB keeper, adding another costly mistake to an afternoon full of them.

Dan Lanning didn’t abandon Dylan Raiola after the defeat. He acknowledged the QB had not played well enough while accepting that the coaching staff shared responsibility. He also urged the QB to ignore the noise surrounding his performance and concentrate on getting better. 

Still, the decision to stick with Dylan Raiola for as long as Oregon did will invite scrutiny, especially after Thomas provided a more productive passing performance. But Saturday’s 17-15 defeat to UCLA showed that the Ducks’ problems run much deeper than one player’s performance.

Oregon let three offensive linemen walk into the NFL and trusted the next guys up to handle the job. That bet hasn’t paid off yet. The Ducks keep shuffling their line, never using the same starting group in back-to-back weeks. Against UCLA, neither QB got the protection they needed. Dan Lanning knows the line isn’t where it should be.

“We’ve always been one of the better teams at protecting the quarterback,” he said. “It hasn’t been good enough this year. And running the ball, we haven’t been as effective this year. All those things tie together.”

The ground attack offered little relief too. Oregon averaged only 2.7 yards per carry, making it difficult to build sustained drives or take pressure off the passing game. A critical red-zone fumble by RB Jordon Davison added to the frustration, while the Ducks also failed to convert a late two-point attempt.

Oregon gave the ball away seven times, went 1-for-12 on third down and scraped together just 58 yards before halftime. At 3-2, the Ducks have burned through much of their room for error if they want to be in the playoffs. 

Dante Moore’s status for Nebraska on October 17 remains up in the air. As of now, Thomas has made his case for more snaps, while Raiola has plenty to prove after that ugly afternoon.

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