The only thing more shocking than the hit from USC linebacker Desman Stephens on Oregon QB Dante Moore last Saturday was radio announcer Pete Arbogast’s description of it.
I know home team radio guys are known to be homers, and that’s fine. I get it. That’s expected. But this might just take the cake.
For those who missed it, Stephens hit a sliding Moore in the helmet during the second quarter, knocking Moore out of the game and sending the star quarterback to the hospital down the street on a stretcher. The hit was brutal. Stephens’ reaction to the play, while Moore was lying lifeless on the turf, was even more brutal.
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Quarterback Dante Moore of the Oregon Ducks runs with the football and slides to avoid a tackle from linebacker Desman Stephens II of the USC Trojans during a game at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sept. 26, 2026, in Los Angeles, Calif. (ISI Photos via Getty Images)
Oregon coach Dan Lanning called the entire sequence “disgusting,” which was a fair description. Moore was suspended for one game, and both he and Trojans coach Lincoln Riley issued apologies after the game.
Moore is fine, but obviously in concussion protocol and out indefinitely.
OK, we all caught up now? Good. Let’s now leave the field and head up the USC broadcast booth, where Arbogast delivered the following description of the hit in real-time to his listening audience:
“He did not try to slide feet first. Stephens went in helmet-first, but he kind of ran into Dante Moore, who ducked into that hit. I did not see him put his feet out first. I saw him dive forward.”
Amazing. What a sequence. What analysis. I’ve never seen anything like it. Just stunning.
Oregon head coach Dan Lanning stands over quarterback Dante Moore as he is attended to after a hard tackle by linebacker Desman Stephens II during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Even when the rest of the crew told Arbogast that Moore did, indeed, slide feet first, he offered this bit of incredible spin.
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“Well he is now because they spun him around,” he said before looking at the replay and coming to his final conclusion. “Well, he goes into, not a feet-first slide, more of a knee-slide. It didn’t look like targeting on the replay to us.”
The look to the camera from color analyst Shaun Cody immediately after that analysis was just perfect. He’s just as stunned as we are listening to it. Cody, by the way, is a former USC All-American. If he’s telling you it’s a dirty hit … it’s a dirty hit, Pete.
Oregon wide receiver Evan Stewart checks on quarterback Dante Moore as he is carted off the field after a hard tackle by linebacker Desman Stephens II during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Just incredible commentary here from USC’s longtime play-by-plan man. I can’t believe this isn’t AI. Seriously, I’m stunned this is real.
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But it is.
And it’s maybe the most embarrassing thing I’ve heard out of a broadcast booth.