It's safe to say after their third loss of the regular season and a flurry of nationally-trending headlines, the Oregon Ducks (5-3 overall, 3-2 Big Ten) needed a bounce-back game. They got one with a 34-26 Autzen Stadium takedown of the formerly ranked No. 20 Northwestern Wildcats.

A big part of Oregon's victory: the "Players make plays" mentality of junior quarterback Dylan Raiola.

Dan Lanning Comments on Dylan Raiola's Northwestern Performance

In his postgame press conference, Lanning detailed that Raiola's mindset is a major factor in how the Nebraska transfer shows up for the Ducks. To be fair, Raiola's had to keep his head steady after leading a late USC victory, to losing against UCLA and being benched, to surging back late against his former Cornhuskers, to then again suffer a loss against Illinois on the road.

"He is a guy that feeds off of his confidence, right?" Lanning said. "I think the piece coming away from this is going to be like, 'Dylan, hey, remember what it felt like a week ago or two weeks ago?' He's going to be one of those guys that lives in reality as well."

Against Northwestern, Raiola put in 22-for-31 in passing for 336 yards and three touchdowns, which ended up being the best single-game statistics of his Oregon career so far, amongst a Jay Johnson-called offense going back to the basics.

"But he made some big-time throws today. Put balls in spots where our guys could get it and nobody else could. I thought he played really well with some of the moments, and still there's going to be some stuff for improvement. We put the ball in jeopardy early there in the game, with getting on the ground," Lanning said.

Dylan Raiola and Ball Security

Let's talk about that point Lanning made about Raiola's ball security, which has been a factor in Raiola's play throughout this season (and is one of the reasons Lanning picked senior Brock Thomas to start over Raiola against Nebraska and continued to cause problems in the Ducks' Illinois and UCLA losses).

The particular incident occurred during the second drive of the game and set a concerning tone for the first half for Oregon. On a third-and-three, Raiola attempted a quarterback keeper to pick up yardage and fumbled on the tackle. Though Raiola recovered from his mistake, the play highlights a struggle Lanning hopes Raiola can continue to work on.

"We've got to have better ball security as a team that's continuing to show up for us," Lanning said. "Obviously, it hurt us at one point today, but we were also able to get back on it. But there were some outstanding moments for him, and he is a guy that feeds off that confidence when he gets better and better. He continues to improve."

Future Against the Buckeyes

With Ohio State ranked at No. 11 by the NCAA for total defense despite their 30-18 loss against USC on the road, there's reason to have some concern that Raiola's ball security issue may be a point of weakness the Buckeyes will hone in on if Raiola runs some keeper plays.

However, Lanning's comments bring more positive than negative takes for a quarterback competition that Lanning is continuing to pursue. Seeing the bounce-back, leadership, and the elevating confidence of Raiola is a positive sign for Oregon entering their first game in "The Horseshoe" against Ohio State since 2021.

Lanning even stressed the same point in his pregame press conference for the Ohio State game.

"I think the more comfortable he gets, the better he's going to play," Lanning said. "Like I said, kind of postgame, he builds confidence as the game goes."