Dante Moore goes off on Mike Gundy for 'attacking' Dan Lanning, Phil Knight over NIL spending

Going into Saturday’s game between the Oregon Ducks and Oklahoma State Cowboys, there seemed to be a war of words, with both coaches Dan Lanning and Mike Gundy taking jabs at one another over NIL spending. Quarterback Dante Moore took notice of and held onto throughout what quickly turned into a blowout.

After the game, Moore shared that he took the shots from Gundy personally, as if his own family was getting attacked. That’s something that he held onto once the Ducks hit the field on Saturday.

“When you attack our head coach,” Dante Moore said. “It’s like you’re attacking my dad. You’re attacking a family member. For him to attack Phil [Knight] and attack Coach Lanning and attack the team was personal. … We were gonna keep the foot on the neck and make sure we score these points and try to break the scoreboard.”

Oregon jumped out ahead of Oklahoma State, and less than two minutes into the game, the Ducks had a two-score lead over the Cowboys. That saw Oregon score on a two-play opening drive, force a three-and-out, and then score on a one-play drive. Moore and the Ducks were well on their way to a 69-3 win.

For his part, Dante Moore finished the game completing 16 of 21 passes for 266 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for 11 yards before giving way to backup quarterbacks Luke Moga and Brock Thomas. In total, Oregon outgained Oklahoma State 631 yards to 211 yards. That was on 10.2 yards per play to 3.5 yards per play. They’d also force two Cowboys interceptions.

Prior to the game, Mike Gundy had made comments about NIL at Oregon and how the Ducks have built their roster. That’s what led to Dante Moore feeling he was being critical of head coach Dan Lanning, as well as famed booster Phil Knight. In particular, he mentioned how Dante Moore is talented and how it could cost “a lot of money” to retain him. He also hinted at the financial gap between the two programs.

“He’s a good player,” Gundy said. “He’s a really good player. But there’s people around there that feel like that they say he’ll be the best one to ever play there before he leaves. So it’ll cost them a lot of money to keep him.”

Mike Gundy responds to backlash from Oregon NIL comments

Mike Gundy pretty quickly felt the backlash to his comments about Oregon and its NIL usage. So, he worked to explain that the comments were taken out of context and that he was trying to be complimentary of Dante Moore and the Ducks.

“A little bit of that was taken out of context. The truth of the matter is, I was being very complimentary of Oregon and their commitment. The other things that had been said that day were that they made a huge commitment to facilities, as we know. They’ve made a huge commitment to their staff, they’ve made a huge commitment to their surrounding staff and then, they’ve made a huge NIL commitment,” Gundy said.

“The thing that people have to understand is I’m very, very appreciative of what we’ve done here at Oklahoma State. Our administration is trying and doing everything they can to facilitate us in the NIL window. You hear the term ‘donor fatigue,’ I can only imagine the donors across the country at maybe other than, what, 12, 15, 18 schools. Continuing to ask for more money is extremely difficult. But the truth of the matter is this – and what Dan said is exactly right. Everything he said is true in the fact that it’s a different time and it’s a tremendous strain on universities and donors.”

After going 3-9 last season and winless in Big 12 play, Mike Gundy took a $1 million pay cut. The assumption was that money would go toward NIL instead. Now, after a 66-point loss, Gundy is quickly feeling pressure to improve on the field.