Okay so, the Huskers. These guys took the CFB world by storm with 3 massive wins at the start of the season. And who was in the center of it all? True freshman QB Dylan Raiola. This kid was averaging at least 70+% in terms of completion against veteran QBs and defensive lines. And that ain’t all. The dude was a menace in terms of long passes and overall pressure from the pocket. Huskers fans had thought that Matt Rhule had struck gold with his choice of putting Dylan Raiola on that turf. But little did they know that this decision would come back to haunt the entire team as the season progressed.

After that one loss to Illinois, Huskers football was never the same. While they did manage to win against Purdue and the Scarlet Knights, that same flair and pressure from Raiola was missing. This had quite the ripple effect, with the entire Huskers offense falling apart in an instant. And this is what brings us to what advice Dr. Gold had for the Huskers freshman QB. “So I’ve told people being a cardiac surgeon particularly taking care of young kiddos, uh, you know, you’re only as good as the weakest link in your team… I know there’ll be good days and bad days…. but it is going to ebb and flow and we need patience to watch him develop into the athlete of the future,” Dr. Gold mentioned. It is going to take a while for Raiola to hit the sweet spot again. With the amount of pressure that he is being put through, it’s normal for any freshman QB to lose their footing.

And it is not like he does not have the skills. Take the Buffs game as an example. This guy was laughing in the face of the Buffs D-line while delivering downfield throws with ease. This kid managed to go head to head against one of the best QBs this year and also a 2-way star who is on his way to grabbing the Heisman (Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter, respectively) and still didn’t lose his cool.

But then against UCLA, who has arguably a much worse comp than Buffs or Purdue, Nebraska went only 20 points? Dylan Raiola threw a single touchdown with 1 interception added to it. This also kind of points to the well-known theory on Reddit that Raiola is playing through his games with some form of an injury.

One user had pointed out something concerning. “I think he’s hurt but the staff collectively thinks his 75% is still better than Haarberg,” they had mentioned on the r/Huskers subreddit. And this entire thing sparked quite the debate.

Is Dylan Raiola being pushed way too hard?

As we pointed out before, his decline in performance after the Illinois game sticks out like a sore thumb. Every long pass or downfield throw this guy was making in the past, now seems so out of place and inaccurate. The arm strength and confidence he had before while playing from the pocket has vanished into thin air.

Or is it something else? See, a few weeks back we had pointed out that Raiola is dealing with a lot of pressure. And all of it comes from the ton of expectations that have been laid over his shoulder. Brady Quinn was the one who had pointed this out. “I started as a freshman, so I think people underestimate how difficult that is,” Quinn had mentioned.

After giving 3 massive games, it’s natural for the people to burden this kid with expectations but it is gonna result in anything good. At this point, the QB just feels like a shell of his former self and as the Huskers take the turf against the Trojans, it does not look like he will be making any good plays.