Nebraska freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola should be healthy and available for Nebraska’s Nov. 16 matchup coming out of the bye week, Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule said Monday.
Raiola left the game against UCLA after taking a hard hit to his lower back in the fourth quarter and was unable to finish the game, briefly running back onto the field before his back locked up and he had to be helped off the field.
“Dylan suffered a contusion to his back and his spine and it was spasming,” Rhule said. “He would probably be questionable for this week if we were playing, but should be available for next week (against USC).”
Raiola has started every game for Nebraska this season, and Saturday’s loss to UCLA was the first time the former five-star quarterback had missed a significant portion of a game. Against UCLA, Raiola finished 14-for-27 for 177 yards with one touchdown and one interception and was sacked three times.
The month of October featured hard growing pains for Raiola, who has thrown just one touchdown over his last four games and six interceptions during that stretch. That followed a four-game start to the season where Raiola threw eight touchdowns to just two interceptions.
Rhule said he wasn’t able to watch film from the UCLA game with Raiola as they normally do because the quarterback was in getting treatment for most of Sunday, but said that while things have been tough for Raiola recently — and the Husker offense as a whole — the quarterback will be able to grow from the tough lessons.
Rhule said seeing teams and defenses coming off byes has challenged Raiola to adjust to seeing things on the field for the first time that are outside of the opponent’s tendency.
“You play early and everything’s not going to be a sunny day,” Rhule said. “You learn how to handle all different things you see. You have tough moments and you overcome them. I think this is unbelievable, invaluable experience for Dylan. When it’s good it’s good, but there are some tough moments.
“He throws the pick six and doesn’t quit and goes back out and gets us back in the game…This is the Big Ten. This is a whole new world and whole different league and every week you have to be at your best. For a young freshman quarterback, this is on-the-job training, this is on-the-job learning.”
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