Arbitrary Nebraska football stat of the week: Dylan Raiola's historic company

You may have seen that Dylan Raiola is the first freshman quarterback since Marcus Mariota to have at least a 70% completion percentage in each of his first three starts. The Nebraska football star's 73.8 completion percentage is good for 8th in the country.

Marcus Satterfield has certainly helped Raiola by setting up some easy throws for him. However, Raiola’s 8.4 yards per attempt is good for 19th in college football among quarterbacks with at least 80 attempts on the season.

The season will get more challenging for the Nebraska football team, and both numbers could change, but the list of guys who have ever done this in the sport's history is short but elite.

From 1956 to 2023, only 75 times has a quarterback finished a season with a completion percentage of at least 70 percent and a yards per attempt of at least 8 (minimum 80 pass attempts). This season, ten more players have currently hit that mark, including the phenomenal freshman Dylan Raiola.

Nebraska football's Dylan Raiola in historic company

This puts Raiola in the same league as some of the biggest names in college football, such as Cam Ward, Dillon Gabriel, Jaxson Dart, and Quinn Ewers. What sets Raiola apart is that he's in his first year of college football, unlike the other nine players on the list who are in at least their third season. Dillon Gabriel had already thrown for 3600 yards at UCF while Raiola was still finishing 8th grade.

Ten players have achieved the 70%-8 YPA feat in more than one season, resulting in 65 players reaching these marks. Of those 65 players, 28 have been drafted to the NFL, including number one overall picks – Andrew Luck, Baker Mayfield, and (the almost Husker) Joe Burrow. It's too early this season to know if Dylan Raiola will finish the season on this list.

UTEP and Colorado rank outside the top 80 for defense in 2024. However, future Husker opponents, Ohio State and Indiana, currently rank 1st and 3rd in total defense, presenting a significant challenge for Raiola. But I believe he’s more than capable of rising to the occasion.

Only one Husker in history has completed 70% of his passes for an entire season – Adrian Martinez in 2020. Dylan Raiola’s 8.4 yards per attempt ties in Nebraska history with championship-winning quarterbacks Tommie Frazier and Jerry Tagge at 15th all-time. The old saying goes that you are the company you keep. While it's still early for Dylan Raiola, his name keeps coming up with some good company.

Week 1 Arbitrary Stat of the Week Update: Nebraska football remains tied for second place with UNLV and Tulsa having 13 players with a carry. Air Force leads the nation with 14 players

Week 2 Arbitrary Stat of the Week Update: Nebraska football remains in the AP Poll for the second consecutive week heading into its matchup with AP Top 25 Illinois