For the first time in nearly a month, the Oregon Ducks will get on a plane and fly away from home for a Big Ten matchup. This week, the Ducks are heading to Champaign to take on the Illinois Fighting Illini, who are coming off a bye week.

The Ducks did ease many concerns about the offense last week, despite a 17-14 victory over Nebraska and a heroic fourth-quarter performance off the bench by Dylan Raiola. Dan Lanning noted after the game that the quarterback competition between Raiola and Brock Thomas, who was benched after three quarters and less than 100 yards of offense, will continue in practice this week.

Illinois has already fired its defensive coordinator this season and is one of the worst defenses the Ducks will face this season, but traveling on the road with uncertainty under center can be dangerous. Lanning addressed the position while speaking to the local media on Monday, as well as the status of star quarterback Dante Moore.

The Illini will be rolling with a backup quarterback in the matchup following an injury to starter Katin Houser in their last game. Lanning noted some of the challenges the Illinois offense presents, and how Oregon's defense can continue its stretch of good play and take the show on the road.

Lanning also briefly addressed the situation surrounding wide receiver Evan Stewart, who missed the Nebraska game with an undisclosed injury and was arrested and booked early Sunday morning on a DUII charge.

Here is everything Lanning had to say on Monday before the Ducks travel to the Midwest:

Opening Statement & Addressing Evan Stewart Situation

"Going back after reviewing the game, obviously it's tough to win. I said that post-game in college football, especially when you're playing a good defense, and Nebraska is outstanding; they held Indiana to six points through three quarters. It's tough. It's a tough team to go get touchdowns against, and we saw that for us. That being said, just like I said after the game, there's a lot that we can get better at, and some that's based on what we need to be able to do with our personnel and how we can improve there. I did think, after watching our defense play extremely well, there are some wards that we can clean up there as well, especially on the third down penalty right before half. Special teams, same thing. There are some really good moments with the field goals, but there's also some poor decision-making and poor execution at times in some of our receiving units, and that. So going forward, you look ahead at Illinois, and what do you notice immediately? It's a really well-coached team. Coach Bielema always does a phenomenal job. They've obviously had this previous week to really prepare for us and get healthy. So I know they've been looking at us for a little bit, and you feel like you're behind a little bit when you start looking at a team like Illinois and the skill set that they have.

"They've dealt with a lot of injuries this season, but they've done a good job of taking advantage of the personnel they do have and creating explosive plays. You immediately recognize what they're able to do on offense. They have some playmakers and some weapons, and they do as good a job as anybody in football as far as getting their guys the ball and taking advantage of those weapons. What they do on defense is extremely unique. You don't see a ton of teams playing the 3-3 stack the way that they play it, so it creates some different guys that identify in the back end, a lot of different pressure variables, and really kind of hard to get a beat on what they're doing at times. So something we have to be really sound against, find effective answers, and then obviously play well to have success in this game. So that being said, definitely, definitely excited to go get on the field again and anxious for the body of work that's ahead of us this week."

Following Up on Stewart

Benching Brock Thomas

"But the way things finished there, Dylan played well. He did some things really well. So I think the hot hand kind of played into Brock's ability to be the guy. That can certainly play into this week as well for Dylan."

Turnover Risk

Timeout Usage

"You've watched Jordon's fumble, which we've got to be better with ball security in the red area. I don't know if that gets called a fumble if it's called the other way initially. There's one where we get the ball out at one point, and it wasn't. It was blown dead. Does that look different? At any point, the sweet spot in two-minute is really a minute and 20 seconds to two minutes. So with us being able, if we get a stop on an incomplete pass there, we're gonna have a minute and seven seconds to get 30 yards to have an opportunity to potentially kick a field goal. So 100% of the time, I'm gonna definitely take a timeout there. I mean, analytics would tell you any third-and-eight-plus, you're definitely taking a timeout, right? And that was third-and-22, right? So that's a no-brainer for us. You can't again live in 'Oh well, it didn't work, so that's a bad decision.' I'll do that every day of the week. Again, if they had a successful third down play, then you don't call a timeout. They didn't have theirs. We had ours. We still had two. Which is really a minute and 10 seconds; it's like an eternity with two timeouts in the game."

Another Incident

Tommy Tofi

Illinois' Wideouts

Rushing Attack

Chris Hampton

Fumble Rulings vs. Nebraska

Young Guys Stepping Up

Dante Moore Update

Travel Plans

Progress on Offense

Injury Management

Illinois' Backup QB

Personal Growth

Podium Persona