Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney looks at five-star Dante Moore’s recruitment now that Kenny Dillingham is off to Arizona State, loves the hiring of Luke Fickell at Wisconsin and breaks down the five biggest disappointments in Power Five as the regular season wraps up.

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There are a lot of reasons why five-star quarterback Dante Moore chose Oregon in July and one of the biggest was because of his relationship with then-offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham.

The two got connected a while back when Dillingham was coaching at Florida State and trying to bring the Detroit (Mich.) Martin Luther King standout to Tallahassee. When Dillingham left FSU to join coach Dan Lanning’s staff in Eugene, that relationship with Moore continued and the Ducks landed his commitment.

But now Dillingham is off to be Arizona State’s next coach and it would be surprising if Moore followed him to Tempe. The bond is strong and if Dillingham could pull it off, it would be one for the ages. But a source said Sunday night it won’t happen. Stranger things have gone down but it’s unlikely.

So there are two options: Moore sticks with his Oregon pledge and warms up to the new offensive coordinator in Eugene or he starts over again in his recruitment just weeks before the Early Signing Period.

Relationships have been a huge part of Moore’s recruitment and he did take a late visit to Michigan before picking the Ducks. The Wolverines’ success this year could be intriguing and Michigan has no quarterback committed in this class.

Moore has an excellent relationship with Miami offensive coordinator Josh Gattis and four-star QB Jaden Rashada just flipped from the Hurricanes to Florida. Could something be brewing there? Even before Dillingham left for ASU, there were rumors Michigan State was becoming a very real player in Moore’s recruitment. Some bought that and others didn’t. LSU made a run at him and Texas A&M is still looking for a quarterback in this class.

There is potential for things to get really interesting with a five-star quarterback soon.

MORE ON DILLINGHAM: ASU must flip the narrative about in-state recruiting

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH OREGON FANS AT DUCKSPORTSAUTHORITY.COM

There was a time just days ago really that it seemed inevitable that interim coach Jim Leonhard was going to get the full-time job in Madison. But the Badgers pulled a rabbit out of the hat over the weekend and landed Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell – and might have just won this year’s coaching carousel.

Throwing out Fickell’s first season at Cincinnati since those weren’t his guys and he was just getting his feet under him, he has won 84 percent of his games with the Bearcats and taken them improbably to the College Football Playoff.

What I love about this hire is that Fickell can stay true to his core principles, to how he operates a program while also sprucing up and dusting off a Wisconsin team that has gone stale. Much is needed in the recruiting department and when it comes to Xs and Os, Fickell is one of the best out there.

Cincinnati’s defenses have been phenomenal under Fickell and the offense does an excellent job of feeding elite backs such as Michael Warren (the Bearcats ran the ball 600 times in 2018 and 616 times in 2019) before opening up the offense a little bit – something that is desperately needed with the Badgers.

In 2020, Cincinnati went 9-0 in the COVID year before losing to Georgia in the Peach Bowl. The following year the Bearcats went undefeated before facing Alabama in the College Football Playoff. This 2022 version was not the best ever in Cincinnati but that team battled hard, another sign Fickell had complete buy-in.

Fickell is a winner. Learned the ropes during his extensive time at Ohio State. He’s a Midwest guy with Midwest roots who will be able to recruit to Wisconsin. He’ll bring his ideas and a big-time defensive presence and some new looks to the Badgers’ offense that just aches for something, anything new.

This was a great hire, maybe the best this season.

MORE ON FICKELL: Recruits react | Five prospects that Fickell should contact ASAP | Recruits that developed into stars under Fickell

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH WISCONSIN FANS AT BADGERBLITZ.COM

Conference championships are being played this weekend and then it’s bowl season but a lot of teams will be sitting out both. Here is a look at the five teams I expected more out of this season:

1. Texas A&M: No team is a bigger bust this season than the Aggies, who lost to Appalachian State at home in September and then lost six-straight SEC games through the heart of the season. Quarterbacks were flopped around, the offense was so complicated not even the players seemed to understand it, the defense couldn’t stop the run. It was just a mess. Then A&M goes and beats LSU in the season finale. But the Aggies aren’t even going to a bowl and LSU will be playing for the SEC title Saturday.

2. Miami: The Hurricanes are also not going bowling after a 5-7 finish that included an embarrassing two-touchdown loss to Middle Tennessee State, a blowout loss to Duke, a 45-3 scorching by rival Florida State and then big double-digit losses to Clemson and Pitt to finish the season. Miami looks like a bigger rebuild than maybe first imagined but there’s still plenty of faith Mario Cristobal is the right guy for the job.

3. Iowa State: After starting 3-0 with a win over Iowa as well, the wheels fell off for the Cyclones as they lost five-straight and eight of nine to finish the season 4-8 with only one Big 12 victory over West Virginia. What has to be especially frustrating to coach Matt Campbell are the close losses – a touchdown to Baylor, three points to Kansas, one to Kansas State, three to Texas, six to Oklahoma State and four to Texas Tech. TCU blew out Iowa State to finish the season to make it even more frustrating. Iowa State was close but this is also an offense that just needs more firepower in it.

4. Michigan State: Last November, coach Mel Tucker signed a 10-year, $95-million extension but this November the Spartans are out of bowl contention, finishing 5-7 with losses to Indiana and Penn State to finish the season. Michigan State got run by Ohio State and then scored only seven points against rival Michigan. After that game, players got into a serious altercation that could lead to severe penalties. The Spartans just didn’t look or play like their usual teams this season and they were really bad away from East Lansing.

5. Northwestern: I fully understand the difficulties of winning at any significant level at Northwestern but this was coach Pat Fitzgerald’s 17th season with the Wildcats and his worst at 1-11. Three of the last four seasons, Northwestern has finished 1-8 in Big Ten play. The lone win came against Nebraska in Ireland in the season opener. Losses to Southern Illinois and Miami (Ohio) are inexcusable. From Nov. 5 on, Northwestern didn’t score more than nine points in a game. The Wildcats averaged just 13.75 points per game. Come on.