This article was updated with quotes on Sept. 26, 2026 at 9:25 p.m.
Sometimes, it just takes one play to completely change a game’s dynamic.
This Saturday, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, that moment arrived with just over 10 minutes left in the second quarter. Trailing by four, Oregon senior quarterback Dante Moore scrambled past the first-down marker and slid. Junior linebacker Desman Stephens II lowered his shoulder to complete the tackle, hitting Moore in the head. Stephens got up. Moore did not.
As Moore lay on the field, Stephens made a celebratory “flyaway” gesture with his hands. USC and Oregon players then broke out in fights before personnel on both squads separated the skirmish. After a video review, Stephens was charged with targeting and ejected for the remainder of the game.
“I did not see it, no,” USC head coach Lincoln Riley said when asked about the celebrations.
Moore was carried into an ambulance, stabilized on a stretcher and taken to the hospital.
Even after his ejection, Stephens was seen celebrating further with his teammates on the sideline, igniting controversy about the linebacker’s gamesmanship. Some have called for harsher punishment from the Big Ten under their sportsmanship policy.
“The fact that Desman Stephens was over on the sidelines laughing, guys were coming over to him, dabbing him up,” commentator Chris Simms said during the NBC Sports’ halftime report. “That was a bad look for USC.”
Nebraska junior transfer quarterback Dylan Raiola stepped in for Moore and threw a touchdown just two plays later. Oregon would go on to win the game 41-27.
“To know he put in the work, the prep was ready in this moment,” Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said of Raiola. “He just played the game.”
By no means did Raiola have a Heisman-worthy performance, but he was steady, an upside of his experience as a Big Ten starter. His 289 yards and two touchdowns were more than enough to keep his offense above water against a leaky Trojan secondary.
Ducks fifth year wideout Evan Stewart and sophomore running back Jordon Davison were clutch for the junior as he navigated an offense fashioned around Moore’s knack for accuracy and pocket poise.
His 29-yard touchdown toss to sophomore wide receiver Dakorien Moore was Raiola at his best: strong-armed and composed. The completion gave the Ducks their first fourth-quarter lead, extending the score to 34-27.
Both teams struggled early. Before Moore went down, the Ducks and Trojans had combined for just 10 points. The injury seemed to amplify the game’s enormous gravity, as both offensive units kicked things into gear before the half.
Still, the competitive, sometimes combative, energy of these two squads was on full display Saturday. The squabble only crystallized that tension.
Despite the losing effort, redshirt senior quarterback Jayden Maiava threw for 326 yards, two scores, and one interception on 42 attempts. Freshman wide receiver Kayden Dixon-Wyatt was Maiava’s favorite target, notching seven catches for 114 yards and a touchdown. While most of the Trojans’ success came through the air, redshirt sophomore running back King Miller managed 74 yards on 13 carries.
It’s impossible to overstate the importance of Saturday’s game. After four years of volatility, yielding zero postseason appearances and just one ten-win campaign, the pressure on Riley had reached a boiling point.
Oregon marked USC’s first ranked matchup of the season and the College Football Playoff implications loomed large for both postseason-hopeful groups. The game was a perfect storm for a USC victory, but, as is commonplace in the Riley era, they couldn’t finish the job when the lights got bright.
The road ahead isn’t getting easier for USC. Dates with Washington, Penn State, Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio State will test the Trojans’ wherewithal, and Saturday’s loss will make USC’s path to the playoffs substantially more difficult.
“We’ve got to take this the right way and that’s going to be important for our locker room. We have a damn good football team in there. I know we do,” Riley said postgame.
The Trojans have an excess of talent on both sides of the ball, a veteran quarterback and a sold-out stadium nearly 80,000 strong. They boast one of college football’s most renowned defensive minds on staff and are now in year five of the Riley era. Another big game misstep begs the question: what has to change for USC to win when it counts?
USC will return to the field against Washington next week at 4:30 p.m. PDT at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Edited by Sammie Vassallo, Bennett M Weinschenk and Adriana Brady