Matt Rhule Makes Feelings Clear About Dylan Raiola Before 2025 Season

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Matt De Lima | Last updated Jun 17, 2025 2:07 PM ET

Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola had the Cornhuskers off to a commendable 5-1 start last season, but the wheels quickly came off as the Big Ten program got deeper into its conference schedule.

To the then-freshman's credit, Raiola led Nebraska to its first bowl-eligible season since 2016 and first bowl win, a 20-15 victory over Boston College in the Pinstripe Bowl, since 2015.

With a season's worth of experience under his belt, where do the Huskers go from here?

Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule sat down with ESPN's Greg McElroy on his podcast "Always College Football" and shared his view on the state of the program's starting signal-caller.

"(Raiola has) always been a tremendous worker," said Rhule. "When you're a young player, you can be emotional. When things are great, you're great. When things get bad, sometimes, you get quiet. You get introverted; you start to get frustrated.

"He and I were together in the cafeteria today, we actually had this exact conversation. We had the UCLA game on TV, and he was like, 'Man, it was 13-7 at the half.'"

After two difficult, but expected losses against Indiana and Ohio State last season, Nebraska dropped a third straight loss to UCLA, 27-20. The Bruins held a 27-7 lead into the middle of the third quarter and held out for the win against the Huskers' second-half comeback attempt. The Huskers would go on to lose five of their last six regular-season games.

"We came out (of halftime) and he threw a pick-six," Rhule continued speaking about Raiola's progression. "We talked about how far he's come. To me, it's not about his highs being any higher. It's about his lows not being so low. It's the same for our whole team. What I've loved about Dylan is the consistency he's shown and bought into. He's the same guy every day.”

Rhule is entering his third season as Nebraska's head coach, and with it, expectations for Nebraska and Raiola are even higher.

The 6-foot-3, 230-pound signal-caller finished 2024 with 2,819 passing yards, 13 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. But Raiola only had five touchdown passes in the final nine games of the season after tossing eight scores in the first four games.

Nebraska will begin its 2025 college football season against the Cincinnati Bearcats on Aug. 28 at 9 p.m. ET. The Huskers' first conference game is against Michigan in Week 4 on Sept. 20.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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