Illinois coach Bielema talks highly of Dylan Raiola, Huskers

The Nebraska football coaching staff has made clear this week that they have a lot of respect for Illinois and know Friday's game against the Illini will be a challenge. That feeling appears to be mutual.

In his weekly press conference, Illinois coach Bret Bielema saluted Matt Rhule and the Huskers, as well as Nebraska's fanbase, and said he's been impressed by Nebraska true freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola.

Early this season, the Huskers and Illini have had similar play styles, and even the coaches have sounded similar this week leading up to their clash. Both staffs have said the other team looks different than last season, and for Nebraska, Raiola is a big part of that.

“He brings a different element immediately," Bielema said. "He’s a very talented young man that’s got incredible awareness, very talented, got a great deep ball throw, they maximize and utilize him pretty well. I think early downs, third downs, there’s some things you can literally see him get better on every series, just very impressive to see.”

Related: Huskers know they're not the same team as last year and Illinois isn't either

Bielema, who knows the Huskers well from his past coaching stops at Iowa, Kansas State and Wisconsin along with his time at Illinois, also knows the Raiola family.

Dylan's uncle, Donovan, now the Nebraska offensive line coach, played at Wisconsin while Bielema was a coach there in the mid-2000s.

From what he's seen thus far, Bielema said the excitement around Dylan during the recruiting process seems to have been for good reason.

“He’s everything that I would say that he’s built up to be and probably even more,” the Illini coach said.

With his history, Bielema is also no stranger to Memorial Stadium, which will host Friday's game. He deemed the Husker faithful "a very tenured, unbelievable fanbase," noted how his team has to prepare for the crowd noise and shared his first experience in Lincoln.

Bielema said when he was an assistant linebackers coach at Iowa in the mid-'90s, he didn't know anything about Nebraska or the crowd noise they'd encounter. He smiled remembering the day and said he "became very educated in a short amount of time."

"It’s a very, I’d say, high football IQ crowd, like they know what’s going on, they understand it, they get it and they play to it,” he said.

Finally, the coach tipped his cap to Rhule and the Big Red's coaches before him, acknowledging how much respect he has for the program and its history.

“Just a really good ball coach," Bielema said of Rhule. "Base is on fundamentals, he builds, I think, the team in the right way, he’s got a great fanbase, obviously a facility now that’s second to none, they got the whole package there with everything from NIL to the recruiting database. I think the part that’s really unique to Nebraska is just the 50 years of football before any of us were here.”

He noted his previous interactions with Frank Solich, Craig Bohl and other coaches with ties to the Huskers.

“There are just so many great coaches that have come out of Nebraska, great players,” Bielema said.

It's clear that the two programs have a lot of respect for each other, and they've also got two really good football teams. That's a good combination for some Friday night fireworks.

Related: Huskers move up in top-25 poll, Illinois enters rankings