Dylan Raiola taking accountability for Huskers’ first loss of season

LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska’s freshman phenom refuses to hang his head following a humbling home loss to Illinois, and is remaining positive approaching week five.

Dylan Raiola didn’t want to disappoint Big Red Nation for the 400th consecutive sellout, and tried everything he could to will the Huskers to a win. After all, he matched Illinois’ quarterback Luke Altmyer blow for blow, until the game went into overtime.

Although Raiola threw for 297 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, he’d rather have the victory. Not to mention there were a couple of plays the quarterback wishes he could have back, and both were on the Fighting Illini’s side of the field.

Midway through the second quarter from Illinois’ 36-yard line, Raiola threw a touchdown to wideout Isaiah Neyor, but the ball ended up in a defender’s possession. After replay review, the officials made a change to the ruling, and Raiola recorded his second interception of the season.

It became obvious that the refs weren’t doing Nebraska’s offense any favors. With under four minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Huskers faced a third and short at the Fighting Illini’s 21-yard line. Raiola set up the play-action nicely, as Illinois’ defense bit on the fake, and Luke Lindenmeyer broke open over the middle.

However, Raiola took too long to locate the tight end, and overthrew him in the end zone, which would’ve gave Nebraska a touchdown lead. Instead of going for it on fourth down, Coach Matt Rhule decided to kick the field goal, and John Hohl missed the 39-yard attempt. At that moment you could hear a pin drop in the Sea of Red because it fell so silent, and all Raiola could do is think about the previous play.

“I saw Luke run wide open, and I don’t know, I missed the throw to win the game, that was our chance to go win the game,” Raiola said. “So I’ll take this game on my back, and I gotta get better, be better for our team, and put us in position to win.”

Some Nebraska fans are pointing the blame at Tony White’s leaky defense, considering the offense scored enough points for a victory. The Blackshirts allowed a season-high, 381 yards, and 20 first downs. Still, Raiola thought the defense had a solid performance, which is why he’s standing behind the Blackshirts and putting this loss on his shoulders.

“It’s not really the defense’s fault, it’s our job to score, regardless of the circumstance, they had a fine-oiled machine on offense, and their quarterback played his butt off,” he said. “Hats off to them on a great game plan, but it’s really no added pressure, it just comes down to execution.”

The Huskers’ nine penalties for 89 yards didn’t help either. Regardless, Raiola wants to build on what the offense did right. Nebraska (3-1) led Illinois in plays, third down efficiency and time of possession. The six-foot-three, 230-pounder also showed he’s a natural at distributing the ball. Nebraska had four different players that caught four or more passes.

Protection and mental toughness from the big boys up front will have to get better in the clutch. Raiola got sacked on three of Nebraska’s five plays in overtime, plus one snap resulted in a false start penalty. Raiola feels there’s something that can be learned from the Huskers losing their Big Ten opener, and is confident the adversity will bring the team closer together.

“I think we did fine, obviously we didn’t win the game, so that’s not good enough, but I’m proud of the way they fought,” the 19-year old said. “O-line played their tails off, receivers ran, running backs ran hard, and we just came up short, so we’ll figure out what happened, correct it, move on and get better.”

Despite the loss, and dropping out of the AP Top-25, there’s no denying that Raiola is still looking impressive through four games. The former five-star prospect is currently 12th nationally in completion percentage, and 30th in passing efficiency. Raiola plans on building more chemistry with his wideouts and tight ends in what should be an intense week of practice. In his mind, it’s all about how a team responds, and Raiola is already shifting his focus to Purdue.

“We’ll let this one hurt for a day or two, and then move on from it, because when you come up short, you really find out what your team is about.”