Oregon's Dan Lanning addresses QB battle between Thomas, Raiola
· Yahoo Sports
For the third straight game, the Oregon football team is, at least publicly, undecided about who will start at quarterback against Illinois Oct. 24.
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Coach Dan Lanning and the Ducks (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten) saw backup Dylan Raiola save the day for the second time in a three-game span after Dante Moore suffered a concussion against USC in late September. The Nebraska transfer passed for 300 yards and two scores in relief of Moore to beat the Trojans, then guided a double-digit second half comeback against his former team after the worst performance of his career in a start vs. UCLA.
Brock Thomas, a former walk-on from Eugene, played well in relief of Raiola against UCLA, but struggled mightily before being benched in his first career start against Nebraska.
So who gets the ball against Illinois?
"There’s a body of work that happens between Monday and Friday that is used to evaluate that," Lanning said Monday, Oct. 19. "If we switched every time somebody made a mistake, we’d have a lot of switches within ball games. That’s just not the way it works. Players have to have an opportunity to get in a rhythm. Brock wasn’t in a rhythm, we weren’t effectively moving the ball. But it was a tight game and we felt like ultimately protecting the ball was going to lead to an opportunity to have success."
Lanning conceded following the Nebraska win that Thomas won the job, in part, because he didn't throw as many interceptions and protected the ball better than Raiola during practice. He acknowledged Monday that Raiola's presence when he came in led to more success in the run game and potential for downfield throws.
All of that will be taken into account, again, this week, though he's standing by his decision to wait to pull Thomas until the fourth quarter.
"He had protected the ball better in the week," Lanning said of Thomas. "But Dylan came and gave us a spark. He played with great confidence and did an unbelievable job. But there will always be competition. It’s always about the body of work. But the way things finished there, Dylan played well. He did some things really well. I think the hot hand, kind of like it played to Brock’s ability to be the guy, that can certainly play into this week as well."
In four games, Raiola has thrown for 515 yards, six touchdowns and two interceptions, completing 64.4% of his passes on 73 attempts. Thomas has played in three games, completed 57.5% of his passes for 226 yards, a touchdown and one interception on 40 attempts.
There's also the possibility of Moore's return, though he's been listed as out for each of the past two games. Lanning wouldn't comment on whether Moore was clear of concussion protocol on Monday.
Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football and women’s basketball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at [email protected].
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This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon's Dan Lanning addresses QB battle between Thomas, Raiola