Oregon’s availability report for its matchup against Minnesota’s conference-leading pass rush left its passing offense in a precarious position.

Facing a Minnesota defense that leads the Big Ten in sacks with 32, Oregon’s pass protection would be short-handed with right tackle Gernorris Wilson ruled out and right tackle Alex Harkey and tight end Kenyon Sadiq listed as questionable.

With the help of Harkey, Sadiq and a long list of depth players taking on larger roles, Dante Moore completed 27 of his 30 passing attempts for 306 yards and two touchdowns, along with taking just one sack.

“Well, I think it’s a great performance by Dante, but I think he’d be the first to tell you there were some unbelievable catches within that (and) some great protection,” head coach Dan Lanning said after the game.

On its first point-scoring opening drive since Week 4, Oregon shifted heavily to 12-personnel with both Sadiq and backup tight end Jamari Johnson running routes. Harkey helped Moore take advantage of the personnel on the second play of the drive, realizing he had no pass rusher to block and shifting to help Dave Iuli hold up Big Ten sacks leader Anthony Smith. The two gave Moore just enough time to find Johnson for 8 yards.

Later in the drive, with a third tight end on the field in a goal-line formation, Moore threw one of his three incompletions under heavy pressure due to a missed block. Oregon had six blockers lined up to push six pass-rushers to the right and open up Johnson in the end zone, but Isaiah World and Trent Ferguson let linebacker Matt Kingsbury through the left side to pressure Moore.

Smith recorded Minnesota’s lone sack late in the first quarter in a mismatch against redshirt freshman Trent Ferguson, who has played sparingly behind Harkey and Wilson in 2025. Smith faked inside and burned Ferguson to the outside, blowing up a play-action drop back for a loss of 10 yards. 

The Ducks’ offense ended the first half with a perfectly executed two-minute drill, which produced its fourth touchdown of the game. 

Oregon went back to 12-personnel for its first significant gain, with Iuli stopping a delayed rush up the middle and Harkey neutralizing a spin move by Smith before pancaking him while Johnson found a weak spot in the secondary for a gain of 24.

On the final two plays of the drive, Stein took advantage of his running back room’s blocking ability, first using Noah Whittington on the outside for a 12-yard pass to Sadiq, then going back to Sadiq for a 3-yard touchdown pass with Jordon Davison executing the same role.

Early in its lone third-quarter drive, the Ducks’ offense pushed the ball downfield with play action roll-outs designed to limit the pass rushers’ reaction time to get through to Moore.

Later in the drive, Smith beat Harkey badly for the first time in the game on a 14-yard pass to Sadiq that put the Ducks in the red zone, getting through him with a bull rush and landing a hit on Moore as he released the ball. Iapani Laloulu, Emmanuel Pregnon and World did well enough up the middle to allow Moore to connect with Sadiq.

On what may have been the offensive line’s most dominant rep of the game, Iuli, Laloulu and World pushed their assignments back several steps while the rest of the line didn’t budge, allowing Moore to find Jeremiah McClellan in the end zone.

Early in the fourth quarter, on Oregon’s final drive with starters in the game, the offensive line put together one more flawless rep in front of Moore. Harkey and World withstood bull rushes on either end, allowing Moore to make a perfect throw to tight end Roger Saleapaga 18 yards downfield.

Oregon’s offensive line will need to continue its strong pass protection in Week 13 against a USC defense that is tied for sixth in the Big Ten in sacks.