Former Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola comes off bench in fourth quarter to lead Oregon to 17-14 win over the Cornhuskers

Dylan Raiola got the chance to beat his former team after all.

The Oregon quarterback came off the bench in the second half and threw the game-winning touchdown pass with 28 seconds to go as the Ducks beat Nebraska 17-14.

Raiola found tight end Jamari Johnson for the go-ahead score from four yards away. Nebraska made it 35 yards in five plays after the TD, but wasn’t able to get into position for a game-tying field goal.

The junior quarterback replaced Brock Thomas in the fourth quarter after Thomas threw an interception on Oregon’s final drive of the third quarter. Thomas’ pick came as Oregon trailed 7-6, and Nebraska turned the interception into a touchdown six plays later.

“So we made the decision to go ahead and make a [QB] change,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said in his postgame news conference. “And I went over to Brock and told him ‘hey, we’re going to try to create a spark for our guys and want to make a change here. But it’s not necessarily anything you did, just we need to do something different, right? We’re not going to keep doing the same thing.’ And Brock said I completely understand coach, and love you and I want to do whatever’s best for the team and I just think that shows so much remarkable courage from a guy like that, to be in that situation.

“And it’s got to be disappointing in that moment to be like, hey, I’m good with it. Let’s do whatever we’ve got to do to win.”

Raiola immediately led Oregon to a field goal on a drive that took nearly half the fourth quarter as the Ducks ran 17 plays to go 69 yards. After Nebraska punted, Oregon then had a five-minute drive that went 82 yards. Raiola’s pass to Johnson was the 20th play of the drive and Oregon’s 37th play of the final quarter.

Thomas started the game after taking over for Raiola in Oregon’s Week 6 loss to UCLA. Oregon turned the ball over seven times in that 17-15 loss to the Bruins and tumbled out of the AP Top 25 as a result.

Saturday night, Thomas was 9-of-20 passing for 54 yards and an interception. Raiola was 11-of-18 passing for 59 yards. He and Thomas combined to average three yards an attempt on their 38 throws.

Raiola transferred to Oregon after spending two seasons as Nebraska’s starting quarterback. With Dante Moore’s return to the Ducks for the 2026 season, Raiola entered the season as Moore’s backup with the goal of taking over as the team’s starter in 2027.

Raiola’s first start in an Oregon uniform came much earlier than expected. Moore suffered a scary concussion in Oregon’s Week 4 win over USC and has missed the Ducks’ last two games.

The win moved Oregon to 4-2 ahead of a trip to Illinois in Week 8. Nebraska is now 5-2 overall after back-to-back losses and is off in Week 8 before hosting Washington on Halloween.