Raiola's Resolve: How an Interception Turned into Inspiration for Nebraska

Northwestern then needed only four plays and 2:13 of game time to go 80 yards through the Nebraska defense for another TD, and a 2-point conversion squared it all back up at 21. In a little more than 11 minutes of game time, a game that seemed all but wrapped up was anything but.

Then, with 11:16 left and the game tied at 21, Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola led the offense onto the field with a chance to drive down and put the Husker faithful at ease.

On the very first play of the drive from the Nebraska 35-yard line, he threw an interception right to a Northwestern defender. It was time for the Blackshirts to earn the name.

“Things happen,” linebacker Javin Wright said of the defense needing to come in after the immediate interception. “We preach that we want to stay neutral throughout the whole game. It was an opportunity for us to show how good we are. Regardless of the stats, we show up, and when it’s time to put on your hard hat, you put it on and you make the play.”

And did they ever. Northwestern needed just one first down to get into comfortable field goal range for a chance to take their first lead of the game, but the Husker defense forced them into a 3rd-and-12 situation before Northwestern quarterback Preston Stone threw a pass right into the waiting arms of Javin Wright.

It put the Huskers back in possession on their own 36-yard line, and it was a second chance Raiola and company weren’t going to waste.

With 9:11 remaining in the game, the Huskers took 6:27 off the clock on a 13-play drive spanning 64 yards before Emmett Johnson punched in what would end up being the game-winning touchdown in a 28-21 Nebraska win.

“Adversity happens in the game of football,” Johnson said. “It happens all the time, so (Raiola) had the mindset that he was just going to go out there and bounce back. That’s what Dylan does every time. We’re going to have his back, too.”

During the 13-play game-winning drive, Raiola played arguably his best football of the day. Facing a crucial 3rd-and-7, Raiola completed a 7.1-yard pass to Johnson for a first down. Just minutes later, Raiola faced another 3rd-and-7 and completed a 19-yard first-down pass to Nyziah Hunter that took the Huskers into Wildcat territory.

Then, we’re not kidding, he faced another 3rd-and-7 and hit wide receiver Dane Key for a 13-yard completion and another Nebraska first down. While it wasn’t a fourth-straight 3rd-and-7, Raiola did face a 3rd-and-5 from the Northwestern 11-yard line before hitting receiver Jacory Barney for a 7-yard first-down play. That inevitably allowed Johnson to do his thing and put the Huskers up for good at 28-21.

For a quarterback who threw an interception on the very first play of his previous drive, it was not just a game-winning drive, but potentially a season-saving drive for a Nebraska team that now sits at 6-2 on the year with a primetime match-up against #23 USC on the horizon.

“I thought our guys showed tremendous resolve,” Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said. “Anytime you’re up, you have that third quarter that you had, then you let them back in the game. That could have been ‘uh oh, here we go again.’ You think about the last two years I’ve been here, it would have been like that. Credit to our crowd, I thought our crowd was juiced up, and then the offense went right down there.”

The game-winning drive also shows the progression of Raiola. In his freshman season last year, the season spiraled out of control after the team’s 5-1 start. The Huskers lost their next four contests before finally earning bowl eligibility in the second-to-last game of the regular season.

A year later, Nebraska’s making a point to not be satisfied with their sixth win, with four more games still in front of them before the postseason.

“I thought Dylan, the growth – you sometimes forget because he’s so grown how young he is,” Rhule said of his sophomore quarterback. “I thought that was his best game in terms of poise and presence. Make no mistake, it’s another time that the offense had to go down and win the game. We went down and won the game on offense. Then obviously the defense gets the stop and then we win the game in four minutes. That’s just a situational clinic, and I think that all starts with your quarterback.”

Making the plays when it matters most still feels pretty fresh for the fan base in Lincoln, but Raiola is learning how to make plays with everything on the line, even if he has moments like he did with the back-breaking interception in the fourth quarter.

“I feel that (if) he makes a mistake, he responds,” Rhule said. “(He) made one of the best drives. Today was the best I’ve seen him in terms of just playing one snap at a time. Early in the game, he never really got into a rhythm because we were running the football at a pretty high level and a pretty good clip.”

“It just shows a lot about how Dylan just doesn’t care about the noise or whatever just happened to him,” wideout Nyziah Hunter said. “He didn’t put his head down, he didn’t pout or anything. He just came off the field and was just ready for what’s next.”

What was next was a season-defining drive and for Raiola, a career-defining drive as he continues to navigate his sophomore season in Lincoln.

“My guys believe in me, and they trust me, and I think that says a lot after the interception.” Raiola said. “That’s playing quarterback in the Big Ten. You’ve got to go convert third downs and my guys ran great routes and got open.”