It’s overwhelmingly obvious that Nebraska sophomore quarterback Dylan Raiola has modeled his entire on-field persona after Patrick Mahomes, and honestly, is there a better QB to emulate? Probably not. Still, Raiola has taken it further than just wearing No. 15.
The former five-star recruit matches Mahomes’ arm sleeves, his headband, his haircut, and his pregame rituals. So, the comparisons to Mahomes have been inescapable, and regardless of how well Raiola plays in his second year as the starting quarterback for Matt Rhule’s Cornhuskers, it’s just about impossible for anyone to compare favorably to a three-time Super Bowl champion.
Some fans have grown tired of the Mahomes conversation in relation to Raiola, especially after Nebraska suffered its first loss of the season against Michigan on Saturday, falling 30-27 in a game that Raiola threw for over 300 yards on 30 completions, but had a costly interception. It seems that Rhule has, too.
"Let's not do the whole Mahomes thing... let's talk about the football"
— Chase Matteson (@ChaseMatteson) September 22, 2025
Matt Rhule praises Dylan Raiola's play through 4 weeks and says all the Mahomes takes/comparisons are lazy from the national media.
(@1011_News, @kevinsjuts) #Huskers pic.twitter.com/NNECBQYg5S
Rhule defends Raiola after Nebraska’s first loss
As for the interception on Saturday, Rhule had a bit of a defense for his quarterback, saying, “One throw, you know, and that throw, it’s on him, it’s also on the tight end. Tight end breaks out when he’s supposed to sit down. Tight end does what he’s supposed to, the ball is completed, and we don’t have to throw that interception.”
Rhule is right to acknowledge that his quarterback is playing well through the start of his sophomore season. Nebraska lost the game on Saturday, not because of Raiola’s play, but because it failed to handle Michigan in the trenches, allowing a 45 percent rushing success rate and allowing Raiola to be pressured on 49 percent of his dropbacks.
Raiola needs to play more like Mahomes, stylistically, but not the Mahome you’re thinking of
Raiola is not playing anything like Mahomes did in college, when he was a true gunslinger in a wide-open air-raid offense at Texas Tech, though he has an offensive coordinator who is as well-versed as anyone in that offense. Instead, Raiola is playing like the veteran version of Mahomes, who has had to adjust his play style to deal with the limitations of his offensive line and skill players in Kansas City over the recent years.
Mahomes has gone from an off-schedule creator, bailing from the pocket to hunt deep shots, to a spread and shred QB with one of the shortest average times to throw in the NFL and a low average depth of target. Raiola, especially when he’s not being protected like on Saturday, has developed similar habits, or at least he’s trying to.
Against Michigan, Raiola’s time to throw was 2.93 seconds, a far cry from Mahomes' NFL-low 2.51 through three games, but his average depth of target of 8.1 for the game and 7.2 for the season is close to the mark of his idol. Raiola just doesn’t have the experience of a now 30-year-old two-time NFL MVP, so he takes a beat or two longer to see the defense and get the ball out, which led to seven sacks against Michigan and an alarming 26.7% pressure-to-sack rate, which ranks 127th of 143 FBS quarterbacks with at least 50 dropbacks this season. Mahome checks in at 13 percent.
That needs to improve for Nebraska’s offense to have continued success in the Big Ten, because the offensive line isn’t going to get any better. Raiola is not Mahomes, but coincidentally, his offense has similar issues, so while Rhule doesn’t want to hear about the comparisons, he’ll need to play like this latest version of Mahomes the rest of the way.