<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3NCOZh_0vH0CkF600" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3NCOZh_0vH0CkF600" width="620" height="320" >The big man wisely wore his shades.<a href="https://247sports.com/Player/dylan-raiola-46116332/">Dylan Raiola</a> smiled in the postgame as he shared that detail about his father, <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/dominic-raiola-76279/">Dominic Raiola</a>."So I couldn't see if he was crying or not," quipped the true freshman quarterback.Tears or no tears, the day will long be remembered by the Raiolas. As is their ritual, they gathered together as family for a pregame prayer on the field. Nobody was going to be too for school about the moment and what it meant."I think I've been waiting since I could think about playing football," Raiola said. "Probably eight years old. I just tried to take it all in. Not be, like, tough guy football player. You've got to be a human and enjoy the scene."While butterflies surely took some laps in the QB's stomach, no onlooker could be positive of that in watching the QB throw for 238 yards on 19-of-27 passing, with two touchdowns and no interceptions in Nebraska's 40-7 win over UTEP.The visual was good for fans on that first drive of the Raiola era, in which the Huskers marched 72 yards in 12 plays. They overcame a drop in the end zone and a second-and-30 situation to eventually score a touchdown.Raiola looked comfortable. And then came the big throw, his first TD toss in that <a href="https://247sports.com/college/nebraska/">Nebraska</a> uniform his father wore.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">A proud papa who had to enjoy this Saturday a ton. <a href="https://t.co/MFB7DDvvxP">pic.twitter.com/MFB7DDvvxP</a>— Brian Christopherson (@Husker247BC) <a href="https://twitter.com/Husker247BC/status/1830014832910733821?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 31, 2024</a><input type="image" src="empty.gif" style="opacity:0" onerror="s=document.createElement(&quot;script&quot;);s.src=&quot;https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js&quot;;document.body.appendChild(s);"></blockquote>It was a 59-yard connection to <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/isaiah-neyor-46079199/">Isaiah Neyor</a>, who was as much the MVP of the day as anyone with six catches for 121 yards."When I threw the ball, I kind of got hit and I didn't really see it go," Raiola said. "So I just listened for the crowd. And when they were cheering, I looked and Isaiah started stumbling and I was like, 'Just stay up. Just stay up and score.' He did. He made a tremendous play on it."Neyor kept his feet despite two would-be tacklers trying to trip him short in the last 10 to 15 yards. His balance gave Raiola a memorable first strike and Nebraska a 16-7 lead.Raiola's second touchdown throw will be fun to watch back on film too. It was the exclamation point on a two-minute drive that ended with the QB finding big target <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/jahmal-banks-46045966/">Jahmal Banks</a> for a 21-yard touchdown with two seconds left. And with that, it was 30-7."Our team has been trained on those situations and obviously having that communication in the helmet helps," Raiola said. "But we've seen a lot of those situations come up in practice so when it came to the game, we just fell back to our training."It was a touchdown built on trust, Banks said."As far as it being about us, that's just what we do," continued the senior wide receiver, who came to Lincoln, in part, because of his belief in Raiola. "That's what we train for, that's what we sacrifice and suffer for, is moments like that to just go execute, so we did it."From there the game played out in an old-school Husker format plenty familiar to the days when Dylan's dad was a Nebraska star. Fun in the sun.When the Huskers scored on their first drive of the second half to make it 37-7 Nebraska with 5:34 left in the third quarter, the freshman QB's day was done early, as backups and young players got to collect game reps.It was no small thing to Raiola that NU built enough of a lead that walk-on Jalyn Gramstad got to come in at game's end to play his first game as a Husker. "Both our dreams came true."And it's no small thing to his head coach <a href="https://247sports.com/Coach/matt-rhule-1095/">Matt Rhule</a> that on Emmett Johnson's 42-yard run that set up a score to make it 23-7 Raiola "three-way checked" into the play off of how UTEP's defense moved around pre-snap on an important third-and-5.Raiola recalled that play being a connected to a discussion he had a couple days previous with his uncle, O-line coach <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/donovan-raiola-70781/">Donovan Raiola</a>, about that particular call being a winner if the Miners aligned a certain way."When you have a freshman that's checking into things … that's an unbelievable job of by Matt [<a href="https://247sports.com/Coach/marcus-satterfield-1576/">Marcus Satterfield</a>] putting those things in. Great job by Glenn (Thomas) teaching it. Great job by Dylan learning it and the O-line and all those things."Nebraska would finish the game 11-of-17 on third down with 507 yards of offense on 83 plays, holding the ball for more than 38 1/2 minutes.There's a lot to fix still, Rhule said, with the hope to make that big second week coaches often speak about. It would be most useful since that opponent is – well, you know who it is.Colorado study and conversation can begin in the morning. The Saturday that was, NU's first season-opening win in five years, will be one of those to keep locked in memory storage for the Raiolas.Dominic Raiola has heard the roars in that stadium when championships are being chased. But it had to hit differently still to hear that noise when his son's name was announced on the HuskerVision board during starting lineups. The volume rivaled those that came after touchdowns."It meant a little more," said the QB, "especially with my dad going to this school and the mark he left with his name in the stadium."For the kid, that dream had been long in waiting. You know. Like, 10 years.</div></body>

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Raiola 'just tried to take it all in,' as freshman shines in Husker debut

The big man wisely wore his shades. Dylan Raiola smiled in the postgame as he shared that detail about his father, Dominic Raiola. \"So I couldn't see if he was crying or not,\" quipped the true freshman quarterback. Tears or no tears, the day will long be remembered by the...

The big man wisely wore his shades. Dylan Raiola smiled in the postgame as he shared that detail about his father, Dominic Raiola. "So I couldn't see if he was crying or not," quipped the true freshman quarterback. Tears or no tears, the day will long be remembered by the...

Raiola 'just tried to take it all in,' as freshman shines in Husker debut

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