Props to former Nebraska football star Dylan Raiola. The quarterback did what he does best on Friday night. He took an obviously undermanned opponent to the woodshed in his Oregon Ducks debut.
Raiola is clearly a talented quarterback, and he showed that again in a blowout against Portland State. After starter Dante Moore forged a 49-0 lead at the half, Raiola came in to relieve him and completed 11 of 11 passes for 124 yards and 3 touchdowns. Obviously, more than a few Ducks fans were quite excited to see how he played in his first real action of the season. However, Nebraska fans know better than most: they should shelve expectations until he does it against a Big Ten team.
There really isn’t any argument. Raiola had some success with Nebraska, but the vast majority of his big numbers came against non-conference opponents. Consider his freshman season and the kind of play Husker fans expected for at least three seasons.
In the first three games against UTEP, Colorado, and Northern Iowa, Raiola completed 73.8% of his passes for 223.3 yards per game while throwing 5 touchdowns and just 1 interception. Once the Big Ten schedule started, Raiola remained a very accurate passer, completing 65.5% of his passes and averaging 214.4 yards per game. However, his yards per attempt dropped from 8.4 to 6.5, and he threw 8 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He was also sacked 26 times, compared to once against non-conference opponents.
Former Nebraska football QB Dylan Raiola must prove his production translates to Big Ten play
The story was similar in the 2025 season. In Raiola’s first three games for Nebraska, he completed an impressive 76.6% of his passes, averaged 276.3 yards per game, and threw 8 touchdowns while not throwing a single pick. Once the Big Ten schedule started, his completion percentage dropped by 7 points, and his yards per game fell to under 200.
Last year, Raiola threw more TDs than interceptions against Big Ten teams, but the margin was much smaller (10 to 6).
So what do all those numbers show? It’s a pretty stark split. Across his first three games of the season in his career, Raiola had a 13-to-1 TD/INT ratio, completed 75.3% of his passes, averaged 8.6 yards per attempt, and was sacked only four times in six games.
Across every game he played after Game 3 in those two seasons, he had an 18-to-16 TD/INT ratio, completed 66.9% of his passes, averaged 6.8 yards per attempt, and was sacked a whopping 50 times in 16 games.
Those numbers were slightly hampered by his missing the final three games of Nebraska’s 2025 season, but the pattern was still set.
None of this means Ducks fans will see a Dylan Raiola who struggles against real opponents. His drop in production can certainly be blamed, in part, on his teammates' play against Big Ten opponents. However, you have to wonder if Dan Lanning and company have seen something that has them wondering.
After all, when Dante Moore lost his helmet and had to sit out for a play last week against Oklahoma State, it seemed like Raiola would make his Oregon debut. However, Lanning opted to take a timeout, rather than allowing him into the game for even a single play.
Now that Raiola has jumped to Oregon, Nebraska fans have to hope his struggles against the Big Ten continue, if for no other reason than that they’ll likely face him in 2027.
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