Matt Rhule’s Dylan Raiola Comments Go Beyond Nebraska’s Loss to Oregon

EUGENE - The Oregon Ducks pulled off a 17-14 win against the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the first 8:05 p.m. PT kick-off at Autzen Stadium since 2022, and the win was in-part thanks to junior quarterback Dylan Raiola coming in off the bench and into the pocket during the fourth quarter, with a pass to tight end Jamari Johnson in the end zone clinching the Oregon victory.

Though it may be easy to assume the Cornhuskers would have sour feelings towards Raiola handing the program its second loss in a row, coach Matt Rhule proved otherwise, sharing kind words towards his former quarterback.

Matt Rhule Offers Kind Words For Dylan Raiola Bounce-Back Game

"Anybody that's played for me, I'm always gonna root for," Rhule said post game. "You know, I want the kids to all have success. So obviously, you know, good for him to fight back from what he went through last week. At the same time, came at our expense in the end. So I'm just going to focus on our team."

Rhule also shared that he thought it wasn't "respectful" to his team or the Ducks to comment further on individual players and how they did, especially after a sobering loss.

Matt Rhule Shares "Fatigue" On Cornhuskers Team As Game Clock Ran

Speaking of that loss, and what contributed to the Cornhuskers putting up a parallel 242 total offensive yards compared to Oregon despite leading Oregon in yardage significantly after the first half, Rhule shared that fatigue in the run game especially contributed to the Ducks being able to squeak out a win.

"I think a lot of the - you know, I won't take anything away from them. I think a lot of it was fatigue. You know, I think just the we were on the field too much all night, you know, and something they did a nice job of - they just kind of constantly stayed on schedule. But it was really a lot of the run game, you know, was second and six, it was third and 2/4, and one," Rhule said

"Just, we just needed to make one more big play. Victor [Evans III] came up really big twice and now they roll out on the fades. But weren't able, obviously, the last play we had, but they could go back to the last play of the game. They just came off the right edge versus the left tackle, and probably was four or five inches away, from knocking the ball out of Raiola's hands," Rhule added.

When asked about if the timing of the kickoff played any role in the Cornhuskers' sluggish feel on the field by Oregon Ducks on SI's Ally Osborne, Rhule said he "would never" want to say that a factor such as timing was an excuse for how his team played, especially during the second half of the contest.

Matt Rhule Gives Kudos To Oregon Ducks After Win

Despite both the Ducks and Cornhuskers putting less-than-stellar offensive performances on the field, both defenses showed up to play. After two back-to-back dissappointing losses, Rhule chalks it up to a lesson moving forward of playing against, in his opinion, some of the best programs in college football.

"Yeah, I'm not. You know, I don't think we're the type of team that's going to not stay with it. You know, Indiana is as good team as there is in the country. This is as talented a team as there is in the country. Going into the year, they said we were playing these two teams. I mean, you know, I thought they were two really good teams, and so having a game like this, you see how far you've come," Rhule said.

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