Oregon QB battle: Austin Novosad shares mentality shift during competition

Austin Novosad had a bit of a mentality shift as the Oregon quarterback battle waged on throughout the summer. With the Ducks’ opener a week-plus away, Novosad is right in the thick of it with projected starter Dante Moore.

Oregon‘s season opener against Montana State is on Aug. 30 and head coach Dan Lanning has yet to name a starting quarterback between the two arms. Many expected Moore, who was ranked the No. 3 overall player in the Class of 2023, to win the job but Novosad has made a late push according to multiple reports.

Practice and games are different of course. Novosad knows there has be a switch flipped ahead of the real thing and it seems like he’s ready.

“Yeah, I think the drive and focus (doesn’t) change, but the execution has to increase,” Novosad said. “And I think, you know, at the end of the day, like I said, when you’re in, are you helping move the offense? Like can you take easy completions, do your job, you know, read the right guy, those things, pre snap and post snap decisions have to be you know, executed at a high level, and I think that’s what kind of changes.”

Novosad has appeared in six games over the last two years. He is 11-of-13 passing for 59 yards. Still, Lanning is excited about the growth of Novosad and Moore, among others, in the QB room.

“I’m excited about the growth of everybody in our quarterback room,” Lanning said. “For me, it’s can they operate the offense at a high level? I think if you go back and look at the moments where those guys first got here and you say ‘we should’ve made this check but we didn’t’ or ‘we shouldn’t have adjusted to this and didn’t.

“It’s just the way you use your cadence to command the offense and the way you break a huddle. All those areas have been a big improvement, and then a couple of plays hit and all of a sudden everybody’s confidence goes up.”

Moore played in nine games at UCLA as a freshman in 2023, where he passed for 1,610 yards, 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He then transferred to Oregon following the season, backing up Gabriel in 2024. Novosad is embarking on his third season with Oregon, where he committed out of Dripping Springs High School in 2023. He’s attempted just 13 career passes.

“I think that’s the expectation right now, as you look at Oregon, (Moore’s) obviously been in the program. They paid him a lot of money to be the backup last year,” ESPN’s Pete Thamel said on The Pat McAfee Show.

“But it wouldn’t surprise me if we do see some real snaps from (backup) Austin Novosad this year. Really talented young guy coming in. I would think that Dante Moore is ahead there right now, but I don’t know if it’s a hammer-lock on the job.”