James Franklin describes the changes between Dillon Gabriel to Dante Moore for Oregon

There are White Out conditions in Happy Valley this weekend for a rematch of last season’s Big Ten Championship Game between the Oregon Ducks and Penn State Nittany Lions. There, Penn State head coach James Franklin needs to prepare for a new challenge on the offensive side of the ball with Dante Moore in place of Dillon Gabriel at quarterback for the Ducks.

Ahead of their matchup, Franklin broke down the differences between the two quarterbacks. He also took some time to praise how Moore has handled himself throughout his college career.

“I don’t think it’s a whole lot different,” James Franklin said. “He’s a throw-first guy. Very accurate, can extend plays. Obviously, has a ton of playmakers around him. They both had the ability to extend plays. I would say that Dante runs a little bit more. You know, runs a little bit more than maybe they had in the past. But the other guy was a really good athlete as well. So, I think it’s still very similar.”

Ahead of the 2024 season, Oregon brought in both Dillon Gabriel and Dante Moore. Gabriel was heading into his sixth season of college football. Moore, meanwhile, was a former five-star recruit who had played at UCLA, but was rough around the edges there, looking to reset and take a year to learn the offense. That move, seemingly, worked out very well. The Ducks won the Big Ten, made the College Football Playoff, and Gabriel would be drafted into the NFL. Meanwhile, Moore has hit the ground running as the starter this season.

“I think that guy sitting — Dante sitting behind that guy, Gabriel, for a year was really valuable for his development. It also shows a tremendous maturity of that kid. Five-star recruit. Could have gone anywhere and he would’ve pretty much been the starting quarterback the day he stepped on campus,” Franklin said. “And chose UCLA. Didn’t redshirt his freshman year, so that became his redshirt year. It’s been a real positive for him and them.”

Through four games, Dante Moore has completed 74.7 percent of his passes for 962 yards and 11 touchdowns to one interception. He’s also rushed for 87 yards. That’s come as Oregon has put together the seventh-ranked scoring offense in the country, averaging 50.8 points per game. So, Penn State does have its work cut out for it.

“So, I think very similar,” Franklin said. “They still function in a similar way to what we saw on film last year.”

Penn State and Oregon are scheduled to kickoff at 7:30 p.m. EST on Saturday, September 27th. For both teams, it will represent their biggest test during the early part of the season.