Matt Rhule says Dylan Raiola is 'at a whole other level' that he wants his offense to match

Matt Rhule knows what he has in Dylan Raiola, a true freshman quarterback who has lived up to his high school hype through two starts at Nebraska.

Raiola’s ability to create off schedule and make off-platform throws from multiple arm slots is head turning. But so is what Rhule said about the first-year starter Monday.

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“I told the offense a lot of them have to pick their intensity up to his level, not the other way around,” Rhule said. “He’s trying to throw the ball to guys that are supposed to be in certain places, and they’re not there.

“He’s at a whole other level, and those other guys better pick it up. That’s said respectfully and with love. And I only say that because you guys sometimes will ask me, like, ‘Hey, did you not throw as much in the second half because of him?’ No, because of everyone else — because other guys weren’t playing at the level I wanted.”

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Raiola completed 23-of-30 passes for 185 yards in a 28-10 win over Colorado Saturday night. His lone touchdown pass came with a stroke of luck, as he watched a near interception bobble into an 18-yard, catch-and-run score for running back Rahmir Johnson. It’s worth noting, however, that no one picked up the blitzing safety on that play, and Raiola threw the eventual touchdown pass while drifting back. He dealt with pressure on 11 of his 32 dropbacks against the Buffaloes, according to Pro Football Focus.

“We’re having free runners,” Rhule said Monday. “They blitz us, and the back misses it, or the tackle misses it, and he’s having to run around and make plays. But we had guys running wide open. We could have scored a lot more points. We threw a lot of shots in that game. A lot of them just didn’t get thrown because he had to run. We had no sacks because he avoided guys.”

To Rhule’s point, of Big Ten quarterbacks with at least 15 dropbacks under pressure this season, Raiola is tied for the second-lowest percentage (5.6%) of pressures that turn into sacks.

Raiola has pulled a rabbit out of his helmet a few times already in this young season, and he’s yet to turn the ball over while completing 73.7% of his passes, including 13-of-22 traveling 10-plus air yards, per PFF.

“Through two games, Dylan’s done everything you could want, except he didn’t milk the clock enough going into the two-minute last game,” Rhule said. “And that’s the main thing I had for him. He can be sometimes too aggressive at times.”

Rhule clarified that he and Raiola have situational communication about striking the balance between taking shots but not putting the ball in jeopardy or compromising drives.

It’s Raiola’s command of the offense that stands out to Rhule, who noted he’s been blessed with impressive true freshman quarterbacks before, like P.J. Walker at Temple and Charlie Brewer at Baylor.

“Dylan’s doing a great job,” Rhule said. “I need everyone else to understand that if a freshman knows all 120 plays in the game plan, then as a junior, I better know all 120 plays or 80 plays, whatever’s in the game plan, I better know them and be able to operate them.”

Rhule referenced how last weekend against Colorado the now-No. 23 Huskers were facing a Buffs squad with a new defensive coordinator, Robert Livingston, who previously spent more than a decade with the Cincinnati Bengals. Rhule said, despite watching loads of film leading up to the matchup — including video from Livingston’s Bengals tenure — he and his staff didn’t know exactly what to expect from Colorado defensively in two-minute situations.

The Huskers practiced for man coverage but got Cover 2, Rhule explained. So they turned to Cover 2 “beaters” in their playbook. Raiola adjusted without hesitation, according to Rhule.

“He’s over there like, ‘Hey, let’s go to this play,’ and he hits it,” Rhule said. “If he knows that, like from camp, everyone else better know that. And that’s what we have on defense. We have a level of accountability that’s unmatched, and that’s where we’re getting on offense right now.

“So that’s why I’m saying it out loud, because we should have scored 42 or 50 points.”

Rhule emphasized that Nebraska still has an evolution to complete on offense. The 2-0 Huskers are evolving, though, and they’re doing so around their blossoming true freshman quarterback, Dylan Raiola.