Dylan Raiola finally took that leap of faith in 2025, after throwing 13 touchdowns and 11 picks in his rookie year. Despite Nebraska being 3-1, Raiola was on the money in all four of their games. After their narrow 30-27 loss against the Michigan Wolverines, the Cornhuskers had plenty of time to reflect and rest during Week 5 of college football. With Nebraska coming off the bye week, word on the street (locker room) is that Raiola is taking his leadership role even more seriously.

On September 30th, Sam McKewon hopped onto X with inside tea: Nebraska TE Luke Lindenmeyer says QB Dylan Raiola “took charge” during the bye week. Made his opinion “heard.” He’s got a fire inside of him that he wants to ignite in us.” That’s the leadership and locker room presence the Cornhuskers had been missing.

Ever since Raiola joined Nebraska, he was viewed as the leader who could take the program back to its glory days. After an underwhelming Year 1, the prophecy has come true in Year 2. Dylan Raiola has been balling this season like his life depends on it. The former 5-star is 3rd in the nation in passing completion at 75.6%, a big jump from 67% in 2024. He’s thrown for 1,137 yards and 11 touchdowns with just one interception. Now, he’s on pace to overthrow Joe Ganz’s single-season franchise passing record set in 2008.

During their ugly loss to the Wolverines, the Cornhuskers’ O-line and front-seven were serious areas of concern. The O-line allowed 36 pressures on 41 dropbacks and gave up 7 sacks. And his defense? Almost invisible against Michigan’s running game. The Wolverines ran all over the Cornhuskers for 286 yards. Meanwhile, Nebraska’s running back corps averaged a measly 1.4 yards on 31 carries.

The only promising thing that came out of that game was QB play. Raiola hit 30 of 41 completions for 308 yards and 3 touchdowns, becoming the only player to throw for 300 yards against Michigan since 2022. But instead of pointing fingers, the quarterback took accountability for his teammates’ mistakes: “Point it at me. I’ll take it.”

Raiola bet his stocks on his locker-room to bounce back: “Be careful. We’re gonna come together and do something scary. You can’t take one game and judge it off that. They’re gonna come back stronger than ever.” With the bye week over, the Nebraska Cornhuskers will now welcome the surprisingly strong Michigan State (3-1) team to Lincoln on October 4th. Another day for Raiola to push for that Heisman run.

Matt Rhule plans to put 2-man RB show

The Cornhuskers and Matt Rhule are making small tweaks with their running back corps against the Michigan State Spartans, but he isn’t giving anything away until kickoff. Emmett Johnson is locked in as the lead back for now, but the backup spot has been a revolving door with Kwinten Ives, Mehki Nelson, and Isaiah Mozee all getting chances early this season. Each has shown little promise here and there, but nobody has fully claimed the role.

So far, Ives has been the most productive of the group, rushing for 119 yards and two touchdowns on just 16 carries, while Nelson has also added 30 yards and a touchdown on limited touches. Still, the Huskers haven’t found consistent support behind Johnson, and the lack of reliable depth has been a lingering concern for the offense. A steady number two could take pressure off Johnson and open up more options for the game plan. Rhule seems confident that the bye week gave Nebraska time to figure things out.

“I think we have a really good plan. We came out of the bye week feeling really good about a lot of guys. In terms of where they’re at, I think the team got a lot better last week. I think we have some clarity, and we’ll have some things still to go on this week. Some guys battle things out as we go into Tuesday and Wednesday, but I think we feel good where we are.” The Huskers are keeping their cards close, hoping the element of surprise helps them in a key Big Ten matchup.