With less than two minutes remaining on the clock at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, the Oregon Ducks found themselves down 16-15 to the Iowa Hawkeyes. With possession of the ball, the Ducks’ College Football Playoff hopes hung in the balance. A loss would presumably drop Oregon out of the top 12 and put their fate in the hands of the Selection Committee, as well as putting the main goal of the season — a national championship — in serious jeopardy.
The ball was in the hands of quarterback Dante Moore, who had completed eight of 14 passes for a meager 65 yards and an interception to that point. The two-minute drill was on him to execute — meaning that, in effect, the entire season was on him in that moment.
Yet when the camera panned to Moore’s face, it looked like it was just another drive. He wasn’t rattled from the Hawkeyes’ physical, in-your-face defense; he was calm — despite never having been in that situation before.
“We do two-minute drill so many times in practice so, you know, you just put us in a tough situation,” he said during Tuesday’s press conference. “But I’ve never been in a situation where I had to do a two-minute drive with the team to win the game and, during that moment, I didn’t feel nervous at all, to be honest.”
What he didn’t feel in nerves, he felt in channeling the clutch abilities of one of the winningest quarterbacks in the modern football era.
“I kind of was thinking about Patrick Mahomes too,” he said. “I was kind of thinking about him during the two-minute drive. I was like, ‘he’s one of the greatest to ever do it.’ And he’s always finding a way to win the game. So I was thinking about him. I said, ‘make sure I protect the ball, move the ball down the field, be aware of the clock.’”
Mahomes, a winner of three Super Bowls despite just turning 30-years-old, has led 23 game-winning drive in his eight years as the starter. His most memorable came in Super Bowl 54, as he drove the Kansas City Chiefs all the way down the field in overtime before eventually tossing the game-winning touchdown pass to vault the Chiefs over the San Francisco 49ers.
Many would argue that no other quarterback in football strikes more fear in the opponent late in the game than Mahomes. And, as Moore said, he always seems to find a way to win.
That’s exactly what Moore did against Iowa.
After a series of short passes and with the clock running, the ball sat at the Oregon 41-yard line with just 34 seconds showing on the clock. A chunk play was needed, and that’s what Moore provided.
With an Iowa defensive back in near-perfect position guarding wide receiver Malik Benson, Moore threaded a pass that whizzed right by the Hawkeyes defender and hit Benson right in the numbers. With that 24-yard gain, the Ducks were immediately in kicker Atticus Sappington’s field goal range.
But the former five-star passer wasn’t done, as he calmly completed a six-yard pass to wide receiver Jeremiah McClellan, making a field goal that much easier.
“Of course, Atticus made a great kick at the end,” Moore said. “Like, give all the credit to him. He was on fire that day, especially with the weather conditions it was in.”
He’s right, as Sappington knocked all three of his kicks through the uprights. But without Moore’s calm, composed nature on the final drive, the feeling around the Oregon program would be a lot different right now.
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