Dylan Raiola has been working since Nebraska won the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl to be a better quarterback for the Cornhuskers this next season. Raiola has dedicated a lot of time to improving his level of play to be what Nebraska needs him to be next season.
With the quarterbacks returning next season in the Big Ten, Raiola is and should be ranked near the top, as he has a whole season under his belt now as a starter and even led his team to a bowl game as a true freshman. However, Josh Pate with CBS Sports seems to believe Raiola is not one of the top quarterbacks in the Big Ten heading into the 2025 season.
Pate released his Big Ten 2025 quarterback rankings, and he ranked Raiola No. 6, which is bad enough, but it is even worse when you see who is in front of him. Raiola is ranked behind Ohio State's Julian Sayin, who has yet to play a full game at Ohio State, Oregon's Dante Moore, who served as the Ducks' backup last season, and Washington's Desmond Williams, who, while he was impressive last season, is certainly not better than Raiola.
The only two quarterbacks that make sense in front of Raiola are Penn State's Drew Allar, who is probably the best quarterback returning to college football this season, and Illinois' Luke Altmyer, who put up some pretty impressive stats last season and is coming in as the second best quarterback in the Big Ten.
REPORT: I am socializing my Big Ten QB rankings with select people today. Will report feedback. pic.twitter.com/2nmdMIId5T
— Josh Pate (@JoshPateCFB) June 13, 2025
To have two quarterbacks who have yet to start a game with their team and another quarterback who is way more inconsistent than Raiola was last season is absolutely crazy and holds no water. In his true freshman season, Raiola had his struggles, but he still threw for 2,819 yards, 13 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, and had a 67.1 completion percentage.
Raiola has talked about who he wants to be for Nebraska this next season, and head coach Matt Rhule is thrilled about his return to Lincoln instead of transferring. Heading into his sophomore season, Raiola simply needs to cut down on the hero plays that caused turnovers for the Cornhuskers.
Better play from the offensive line and more elite pass catchers should help with that, which is what Rhule has provided Raiola with this next season. If anything, Raiola can use this ranking as fuel for the next season and show just how great of a quarterback he can be for Nebraska.