Behind the Steel Curtain
The college football season is ripping by us. Teams are starting to have their bye weeks, and our overall feel for the class is beginning to shift and take shape. This week, I’ll update our quarterback tiers and share some updated season stat totals for our field of signal callers.
But first…
The result: Oregon 30 — Penn State 24
Game stats: 29-39 (74.4%), 248 yards, 3 TDs, 3 Big Time Throws, 1 Turnover Worthy Plays, 5.9 ADoT, 0 sacks
10 rushes, 35 yards, 3.5 ypc, 1 fumble
Season stats: 100-134 (74.6%), 1,210 yards, 14 TDs, 1 Int, 10 BTT, 2 TWP, 8.6 ADoT, 1 sack
23 rushes, 131 yards, 5.7 YPC, 0 TD, 1 fumble
The floodgates have officially opened for the Dante Moore QB1 discussions. There was no bigger game last weekend in terms of Top-10 opponents squaring off, an insane crowd environment during a Penn State “white out” game, and potential first-round quarterbacks. This summer, when all we had to work off of was a handful of ugly games with UCLA, one of our biggest questions about Moore was how he would handle pressure. Early in the season, he hasn’t faced a ton of it, facing pressure on only 21.3% of his dropbacks, and only one sack on the season. Oregon looked like the better team for most of the night against Penn State, but some wonky outcomes — a missed field goal, a false start on a fourth and short, a scramble at the sticks on fourth down coming up just short — allowed the Nittany Lions to stick around and force overtime.
So how did Moore respond with a hostile home crowd going nuts and a free rusher in his face during double overtime?
Chills.
I will note that Moore did follow this up with an interception on the two-point conversion that doesn’t show up in his box score, but it’s hard to come away from his performance as anything other than impressed. Penn State’s defense was focused on keeping the lid on Oregon’s passing game for most of the night, and Moore took what the defense gave him.
Moore’s mobility was also on full display in this game. He had nearly as many rushing attempts (10) against Penn State as he did in his previous games (13), and while Moore isn’t the type of quarterback that will generate many explosive runs, he turned a handful of short scrambles on high-leverage downs into first downs. In other instances, he used it to buy time and create opportunities to move the ball downfield.
Here was my other favorite throw on the night.
I’ve already heard chatter this week on podcasts and across social media that not only is Moore getting consideration as the best quarterback in college football, but he’s entering the QB1 conversation for the draft. I’ll pump the brakes on that a bit, as this is Moore’s first year as a starter, and analysts like Todd...
