Nebraska Cornhuskers are coming to their 3rd season with Matt Rhule at their helm. The culture seems to be moulded according to the Rhule-Book. The players are more or less dancing to the tunes of his strategies. The foundations are quite firm now to make a solid deep season run in the 2025 season. In fact, Rhule is doing just that entering the 2025 season.
After taking Ohio State to the wire in an unfortunate loss. After taking the Cornhuskers to their first winning season since 2016. After making turning his team into a homegrown, well-oiled machine, we saw the emergence of several freshmen contributors in that. So, we are truly seeing the Rhule era unfold in front of us. But, what if someone tells you there can be a slight problem in this ever so optimistic vigour?
Former Bayler Bears wide receiver and On3 analyst JD PicKell has highlighted the challenge that Dylan Raiola has to face in the 2025 season. “You brought Dylan Rola to do it in Nebraska. You brought him here to be a team that can go compete for the Big 10 championship and make the college football playoff. Last year was ups and downs; there is no more, oh well, he’s a true freshman; there is no more, well we just got find a way to be better around him and win ugly. Dylan Raiola, I thought, played valiantly at different points last season for Nebraska. He’s got to level up in 2025″. So, was Raiola’s performance not up to the mark in the last season?
Dylan Raiola garnered 2,819 yards per game at a 67.1% pass completion rate and suffered 27 sacks. His average was just 6.9 yards per attempt. To put these numbers in perspective, hear this. He ranks 17th in pass completion nationally and 23rd in attempted passes. But wait, there’s more worrying trends.
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA – AUGUST 31: Dylan Raiola #15 of the Nebraska Cornhuskers drops back to pass against the UTEP Miners at Memorial Stadium on August 31, 2024 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)
In contrast, the QBs who made a deep run in the playoffs and even performed and won championships performed far better. The most appalling aspect was his yards gained per pass, which stood at 99th nationally. Needless to say, it’s not quite up to the mark that Nebraska would want. But then another question comes: Can the problem be solely blamed on Raiola?
Well, their receiving corps were also not screaming world-class play as they ranked 109th nationally in passing yards gained per game (6.6). JD PicKell also had an insight on the issue. “Teams that competed at the highest level last year in the Big 10. Oregon, Ohio State, Penn State, Indiana; teams that made the playoff, all four of those teams were top 20 in America in yards per pass. Three of them were in the top 10. Translation: Dane Key let’s go baby brought you here for a reason get them chopping all right“. Dane Key is someone the Cornhuskers brought in from the Kentucky Wildcats to bolster their receiver room. The player had received 715 yards for 47 receptions, scoring 2 TDs last season. The question now is, can Dan Key be the ‘Key’ to the Cornhuskers’ success?
Matt Rhule’s punishment fitting the crime
Moving on, it seems Cornhuskers under Matt Rhule are undergoing a paradigm shift in culture and how things run. Take, for instance, the recent decision of Matt Rhule to tell his players not to use TikTok in the locker room. He explained the whole situation and the incident in a recent episode of the Pat McAfee show…
Matt Rhule said that he was very much against TikTok being used in the locker room and in the football facility. He recently caught hold of players making TikToks and decided to give a punishment fitting the crime. He said of the incident. “So our strength coach did a TikTok workout this morning with the freshmen, and they were pushing plates with their bios and all their cool stuff they love to post on there“. For context, hear this.
He made all the players do workouts while making TikTok videos. At the end of it, they had to go and dance for 10 seconds as they were doing in their TikTok. Punishment quite apt, right? So, it seems Nebraska’s culture is changing with Matt Rhule at the helm, and we could see the team achieve its former glories in the coming years.
The post Stern Ultimatum Issued for Dylan Raiola’s Nebraska Future as Locker Room Antics Force Matt Rhule to Take Strong Action appeared first on EssentiallySports.
