Things took an ugly turn for Matt Rhule’s Nebraska Cornhuskers. Coming off a heroic win against Northern Iowa, never in their wildest dreams the Huskers fans had imagined losing to Illinois. But fate got them really bad when their touchdown got snubbed and fell prey to what they believed was blatant referee bias. Besides, things would have turned for the better, if not they made three costly blunders.

While the mistakes spree continued in Nebraska, the Illini squad made no wrong attempt and grabbed an overtime victory under their name. Meanwhile, their QB Dylan Raiola too stooped down from his star status as CFB fans rip the frosh. 

Nebraska fans expected a restful night, believing Rhule and Co. would deliver a victory on Friday. Instead, the Huskers robbed them of sleep for the entire weekend. Well, one question will continue to linger in their hearts. The massive blunder that the Nebraska HC did with his decisions. They had the ultimate trump card in their hand when they had won the toss. But what did Rhule do instead? He went with the decision to play defense against Illinois. Like the fans, Jeremy Werner, the 247Sports journalist was equally disappointed and tweeted, “Nebraska wins toss, Illinois gets b–l first.”

Then comes Rhule and his faltering skills when it comes to clock management. News-Gazette analyst Scott Richey shared his pent-up feelings against the HC on X, “Nebraska losing a timeout with that questionable decision to challenge Tanner Arkin stepping out of bounds doesn’t really matter. Matt Rhule didn’t use any of his timeouts in the first half. Two is fine for the rest of the game.” But what exactly did happen?

With less than two minutes to go, the Huskers HC thought it wise to call a timeout while Nebraska was on defense. As he allowed Illini to draw up a play, it came as a boomerang and instead helped Illinois QB Luke Altmyer run down the field and force overtime. Sadly, the Friday face-off was all about Rhule and the tribe getting penalized, from Isaiah Neyor’s pass point going to Illinois as an interception to Raiola landing an intentional grounding penalty. While it was tough for Rhule, the QB too had to pay the cost for his mentor’s mistakes. 

Matt Rhule’s star QB Dylan Raiola thrown under the bus

Dylan Raiola struggled on defense, leading to multiple sacks. In one series, he lost 9 yards and recovered his own fumble, then got sacked again and fumbled, with lineman Gunnar Gottula recovering. With just three minutes left, Raiola overthrew a wide-open Luke Lindenmeyer, missing a chance to take the lead. While some blame may fall on coach Rhule, Raiola’s mistakes didn’t help, especially after all the Patrick Mahomes clone hype.

It would have helped him stay afloat in case the Huskers had beaten Illinois. But Friday was not that lucky day. And fans have been particularly hard on Rhule’s QB. After all, it’s hard to fool those who had kept a close eye on one of the most talked-about players for the 2024 season. Maybe, he took things too easily and that oomph factor somehow lacking on Friday, “Raiola with absolutely no urgency at the end. Running backwards, rolling out casually almost getting sacked again, then another sack.” 

But amidst the bashing game, not to forget how Dylan Raiola gave Matt Rhule enough reasons to be proud about. He’s now almost at 1000 yards passing while also holding a record of nine touchdowns. Going by the stats, it’s definitely impressive for a frosh. Time for the HC to buckle up and use the QB to his advantage learning from the mistakes.   

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