The Nebraska Cornhuskers may not have had their best season in 2024, but they certainly grabbed some eyeballs before their close defeat against Ohio State. Leading this Huskers’ offense was a 19-year-old freshman QB Dylan Raiola, but HC had full confidence in the former five-star prospect. “I think when you see your best players, and Dylan is certainly one of our best players,” Rhule said earlier this year. And when you look at Nebraska’s last season, Raiola did have a good season in his freshman year. But is that enough for a Big 10 team?

Knowing Dylan is just 19, Rhule is well aware of the fact that what the Huskers’ QB is capable of and what damage he can do to the opponents in the future. “He has such a rolodex in his brain,” Rhule said to On3. “I think Dylan’s building a rolodex that, while it’s frustrating right now, if he weathers the storm, he’ll have so much experience. And as things get better, he’ll be a unique player.” But what if Raiola does not up his game? Is Rhule prepared for that situation? Reminding the same, former CFB wide receiver has issued a concerned warning for the Huskers’ head coach before the 2025 season.

Well, Nebraska is coming to their 3rd season with Matt Rhule at their helm. The culture seems to be moulded according to the Rhule-book. 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. But what if someone tells you there can be a slight problem in this ever-so-optimistic vigor?

Former Baylor 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. But he is 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 are more worrying trends.

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 was 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 into 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?

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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 is 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 glory in the coming years.