It wasn’t a great game for the Nebraska Cornhuskers and freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola.
Nebraska lost to then-No. 16 Indiana 56-7 on the road and the highly touted signal-caller was responsible for four turnovers. He threw three interceptions and also lost a fumble.
Those kinds of games happen to young quarterbacks in big-time environments, and according to Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule, he himself could have given Raiola a bit more help play-calling-wise.
“I think a smarter coach probably would’ve settled the game down when you’re down 35-7,” Rhule explained on Monday (h/t On3).
Though Rhule could have made things easier on the young quarterback — and he even could have taken him out of the route in order to preserve him — the Huskers head coach did feel there was a lesson to be learned in the beatdown at the hands of Indiana.
“In my mind, the long game is that Dylan’s going to have to learn to play in those moments with intense pressure, trying to get your team back in the game,” Rhule said.
Nebraska was down 21 points at halftime and the first two possessions of the second half resulted in a Cornhuskers turnover on downs and an Indiana touchdown. It got away quickly from Nebraska and it stayed that way for the duration of the game.
It was a tough loss, without a doubt, but Rhule doesn’t think it will hinder Raiola’s long-term development.
“My main thing in life as a coach is not to panic, not to overreact, we can’t change everything,” Rhule said. “Just keep getting better at it until they’re the best that they are. But I wanted Dylan to stay in that game in that situation. I wanted him to have to battle through all that. He went through three interceptions, he suffered through that, and hopefully we get better as we move forward. But I think he’s playing well, I really do. It might not seem that way to everybody, but when I watch the tape, I like most of everything that he’s doing and we’ll keep building off it, because the teams keep getting better and better.”
