3 takeaways from Nebraska football’s comeback win over Maryland

For the second week in a row, Nebraska football faced a gut check. 

The Huskers squandered a 10-point lead twice against Maryland. After Dylan Raiola’s third interception was returned for a touchdown, Maryland actually led 31-24 in the fourth quarter.

Just like last week, after a Raiola interception led to a Michigan State touchdown, the Spartans took the lead. He responded by leading a touchdown drive. Against Maryland, Raiola led a field-goal drive.

Then, after an assist from the Blackshirts with a key stop, Raiola engineered the first game-winning touchdown drive of his career. His touchdown pass to Dane Key, his fourth of the game, gave Nebraska football a critical 34-31 win, a win that should move the Huskers into the top 25.

Looking back at the win, here are three takeaways.

Dylan Raiola silenced some critics, or should have

Raiola deserves some criticism, but the last interception, I wouldn’t put all on him. He’s a 20-year-old kid making his 19th start. It’s not always going to be perfect.

Still, Raiola completed 2o of 29 passes for 260 yards. He threw four touchdowns compared to three interceptions. On the last drive, he was juking defenders and throwing darts.

When the chips were down, Raiola was at his best. That tells you a lot about a quarterback. It tells you a lot about a football team.

For the second week in a row, Nebraska football won a game that it probably would have lost a year or two ago. Like it or not, Raiola is a huge reason why.

Emmett Johnson is the big-time back Nebraska football has needed

We have all been wondering when Nebraska would get the next Ameer Abdullah. Well, the Huskers found him — it’s Emmett Johnson.

The former three-star recruit, who was underrated, just like Ameer, was incredible. Maryland was allowing just 2.6 yards per attempt coming into the game. Johnson averaged 8.4. He ripped off a 50-yard run and totaled 176 yards on 21 attempts, in addition to two catches for 20 yards.

That’s 23 touches for 196 yards. Nebraska needs to find a reliable RB2. But it’s getting harder and harder not to keep Johnson almost the entire time. He’s that good.

Johnson is also a junior, so Nebraska needs to line up a massive NIL deal so he comes back for another season.

Nebraska football is different

It took three seasons of Matt Rhule being the head coach, but this program is different. The Huskers have won multiple close games this season. Against Cincinnati, the defense closed it out, which they also did on Saturday.

Raiola and the offense saved the day against the Terps, with an assist from special teams. The ability to find a way is what this program was missing.

We’ll see where this team goes — it deserves to be ranked — but Matt Rhule has changed the program. He’s done exactly what he was hired to do.

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