Scary Injury Dims Oregon-USC Clash

Los Angeles, CA (News4usonline) – With USC’s Jayden Maiava and Oregon’s Dante Moore both off to hot starts heading into the matchup, the Trojans versus the Ducks was lined up to be an offensive battle between two of the best quarterbacks in college football.

Both players were looking to prove their team had what it takes to compete for a playoff spot this season, while also trying to show the long list of NFL scouts in attendance they have what it takes to succeed on Sundays.

The paths of both players have been somewhat similar.

Moore started for one year at UCLA, while Maiava ran the UNLV Rebels offense during his first campaign. Maiava threw for 220 yards per game, 17 touchdowns, and 10 picks. Moore hovered right around 180 yards per game, throwing 11 touchdowns and 9 interceptions.

In their sophomore seasons, after transferring to bigger programs, they started the year as backups. Moore sat behind starter Dillon Gabriel for the entire season, while Maiava backed up Miller Moss before eventually replacing him as the starter for the last 4 games of the season.

Moore outplayed his USC counterpart in 2025, putting himself into the conversation as one of the top NFL quarterback prospects in college football. In his first year as the starter for the Ducks, Moore threw 30 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions. Oregon finished the year 13-2 and advanced to the semifinals of the College Football Playoff.

Maiava’s 2025 season was also solid. The Trojans finished 9-4, and he led the conference in passing yards. He threw 24 touchdowns to 10 interceptions, proving he was more than capable of delivering the football to now-NFL wide receivers Ja’Kobi Lane and Makai Lemon.

Fast forward to 2026 and Moore’s name appears at the top of most 2027 draft projections, while Maiava finds his name a little further down the board. This matchup turned into a shootout, with 68 points scored and nearly 700 yards passing combined, but the night ended poorly for both quarterbacks.

The contest took a turn for the worse in the middle of the second quarter when Moore scrambled for a first down and, while attempting to slide, took a massive blow to the head from Desman Stephens. Moore was down on the field for an extended period of time and left the game on a stretcher in an ambulance.

Stephens was hit with a targeting penalty resulting in an ejection from the game. No doubt a dirty hit was delivered to the Ducks star quarterback.

“There is a reason targeting exists in football, and that is as clear as day targeting. It is a shame that that happened to a good player when, in my mind, that certainly could have been avoided,” said Oregon head coach Dan Lanning after the game.

It was the kind of play the sport has been trying to remove from the game for a while.

The health of Dante Moore is the headline leaving this game. It was not your average injury. You don’t see players down on the field for that long very often, and it leaves you wondering what his future might look like.

“A lot of guys on the sideline were emotional during that moment, including myself. Right now, indications are that he is going to be alright. He is in recovery, so I don’t want to speak too soon, but he is moving, and we will continue to assess him, but I don’t want to make any further speculation on that until we have more on him,” said Lanning.

While Maiava did not have a potentially career-altering injury, his team came up short once again in a big game. He has proven the ability to put up points, but has not always been as sharp as he needs to be against tougher opponents down the stretch.

Maiava came out firing and delivered a dot to Kayden Dixon-Wyatt for a 31-yard touchdown to put USC ahead early on in the second quarter. The Trojans struggled on the ground in the first half, forcing the signal caller to put the offense on his back, and he did so by completing 8 of his 14 attempts for 116 yards and a score.

USC continued to rip off chunk plays for much of the second half, with Maiava throwing for 326 yards by the end of the night, but he had a pass broken up on a critical 4th-and-7 from the 50-yard line with just over seven minutes left in the game and finished the game by throwing an interception while in desperation comeback mode.

“It came down to a couple of plays like these games between two really good teams typically come down to, and we made a few too many errors there in the end, especially once we got momentum there in the 4th quarter,” said USC head coach Lincoln Riley.

Dylan Raiola took over for the Ducks at quarterback, and the offense did not miss a beat as he led his team in what felt like a must-win game to a 41-27 victory.

Luckily for Oregon, Raiola has collegiate starting experience, appearing in 22 games for Nebraska before transferring to Oregon to back up Moore. In a blowout win against Portland State two weeks ago, Raiola completed all 11 of his passes and threw three touchdowns.

“I never really knew when my moment was going to happen or what to expect. I am huge in my faith, and I just put all of my chips into God’s hands, and when you do that, it is the best way because you find peace. The ultimate goal is to win no matter how it happens or, sadly, whenever someone goes down. The game of football doesn’t feel sorry for us. We have to step up and keep fighting,” said Raiola postgame.

Against USC, Raiola looked like the best quarterback on the field by the end of the night. He finished 19-of-25 for 289 yards, leading the Ducks on five touchdown drives after taking over for Moore.

Lead Photo Caption: Los Angeles, CA – Oregon quarterback Dante Moore (5) slides before taking a nasty hit from USC linebacker Desman Stephens II in a Big Ten Conference football game played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sept. 26, 2026. Moore was injured on the play and had to be carted off the field and taken to a local hospital. Stephens was elected from the game. Oregon defeated the Trojans, 41-27. Photo credit: Sammy Saludo/News4usonline