Before Bryce Underwood, there was Dylan Raiola.
Raiola, a five-star quarterback and top-25 prospect in the 247Sports Composite rankings, was the Big Ten freshman with the most on his shoulders last season. As a Day 1 starter at Nebraska, Raiola was hailed as a transformative player who could turn the Huskers into Big Ten contenders.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because Michigan is viewing Underwood much the same way. Even the most talented quarterbacks need time to develop, as Raiola and Nebraska learned last season. As a second-year starter, Raiola is coming into his own for the 3-0 Huskers. Four games into his college career, Underwood is coming off a breakout game against Central Michigan, but he is still growing into the job.
The team that gets the most from its five-star quarterback could be the one that walks away victorious Saturday in the Big Ten opener for both teams at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.
The Athletic’s Mitch Sherman and Austin Meek are here to break down this matchup of blue-chip quarterbacks and two teams hoping to ascend in the Big Ten.
Meek: Several of Michigan’s coaches and players this week remarked on the confidence and command they see from Raiola on film. Biff Poggi, who is filling in as Michigan’s head coach during Sherrone Moore’s suspension, praised Raiola’s patience in the pocket and his ability to diagnose the defense.
“When you watch the tape, you realize everybody rallies around him,” Poggi said. “It’s kind of his football team.”
It’s also the case that, aside from the season opener against Cincinnati, Nebraska has played two overmatched opponents and won easily against Akron and Houston Christian. Are you ready to say that Raiola has genuinely turned a corner, or does he need to prove it against a team like Michigan first?
Sherman: Raiola set true freshman records at Nebraska for completion percentage (67.1) and passing yardage (2,819). He is a better quarterback this year. Raiola turned a corner, yes, after an up-and-down first season in command of the offense. He needs to prove it against Big Ten foes. But I’m as confident in his ability to thrive over the next two months as I am about anything connected to Nebraska in 2025.
Some of his big numbers through three games relate to the level of competition. After Raiola threw for 243 yards but averaged just 5.8 per attempt against Cincinnati, his production jumped in the past two weeks. He posted 586 passing yards in 4 ½ quarters on 11.3 yards per attempt.
Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola thrived in nonconference play, completing 76.6 percent of his passes. (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
He has better talent around him. Nebraska was limited at wide receiver a year ago. It’s got weapons this fall in newcomers Dane Key and Nyziah Hunter and returning playmaker Jacory Barney, who was adjusting to college as a true freshman alongside Raiola a year ago. And the depth has improved.
But the most significant factor in Raiola’s growth involves his experience.
“Everything Dylan went through last year was for the first time,” coach Matt Rhule said.
In 2025, Raiola more easily recognizes the defensive looks in front of him. He’s getting Nebraska out of bad plays at the line of scrimmage. Raiola is a student of the game. He models his preparation after the quarterbacks of the Detroit Lions that he grew up observing in the final years of his father’s NFL career.
Raiola is completing 77 percent of his passes. He’s thrown eight touchdowns without an interception. His aptitude allows offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen to call a better game, according to Rhule.
“I feel calm,” Raiola said. “I feel confident. More so in just the guys around me and how much we’re tied together.”
No shortcuts exist in this climb, Raiola said.
“There’s no substitute for live game reps in the Big Ten,” he said, “especially on the road.”
With that said, what have you seen, Austin, from Underwood’s early growth?
Meek: Underwood looked like a star in the making against New Mexico and Central Michigan. Against Oklahoma, he looked like a freshman making his first road start. We’re all curious to see which version of Underwood will show up in Big Ten play.
The arm talent is there. Underwood can zip the ball into a tight window on one play and loft it over a defender’s fingertips on the next, which is a skill that a lot of young quarterbacks don’t have. Against Central Michigan, he also showed the ability to tuck the ball and run, which is something he didn’t do in the first two games. Poggi said Underwood has the freedom to run whenever he wants, and I’d expect him to look for running lanes against a Nebraska defense that gave up 96 rushing yards to Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby.
“He’s got a green light to do whatever he wants because he’s one of the great playmakers, I think, in the country,” Poggi said.
When Underwood has been in sync with his supporting cast, the results have been excellent. Indiana transfer Donaven McCulley is the jump-ball threat that Michigan needed in this offense, and Semaj Morgan is dangerous with the ball in his hands. But Michigan’s receiving corps as a whole is a work in progress, and that was magnified when tight end Marlin Klein missed the Oklahoma game with an ankle injury. Underwood was 9-for-24 in that game for 142 yards and never looked comfortable in the pocket.
I know things have been tough at Nebraska the past few years, but I was somewhat shocked to learn that Nebraska’s last win against a ranked team happened all the way back in 2016 against Oregon. Given that long drought, it would be understandable if Nebraska lacks some confidence in games like this. Do you think Raiola’s emergence is enough to overcome that?
Sherman: I’ve observed a different kind of confidence from Nebraska this week. The comparison is not fair to the players on this team — because there are so many first-year transfers and freshmen in key spots — but a year ago, when Nebraska played Colorado, the Huskers came with a heightened level of bravado.
Nebraska capitalized on the energy to jump to a 28-0 lead at halftime.
It won. But the juice was artificial. The high was not sustainable. The Huskers experienced a letdown in the weeks that followed. They never recaptured that Week 2 excitement, the sign of a team that wasn’t mature enough to handle the demands of a Big Ten season.
That’s changed. Michigan is the opponent toward which Nebraska fans have pointed the most recently in the offseason. The Huskers and their coaches, though, have grown up as a program.
The leadership provided by Raiola, a captain, running back Emmett Johnson, veterans on the offensive line and a demonstrative secondary shines through.
“A lot of guys, adversity hits, they don’t want to think about it,” Rhule said. “It’s too painful. The great ones are driven by that kind of stuff.”
It’s a small thing. But it’s one of many small items that he and others are accomplishing this year. They’re not making more of this game than what it is. Even if Nebraska wins and follows by losing two of three against Michigan State, Maryland and Minnesota, it will not have accomplished what it set out to do at the start of Big Ten play.
“I’ve seen the same team the last three weeks that I’ve seen this week,” Raiola said. “Nothing changes for one specific game or opponent. It’s why we train. It’s why we have a process that we create that we can trust and build on.”
There’s nothing fake, it seems, about the Huskers’ mentality.
“It’s why this coaching staff’s here,” said Holgorsen, the head coach for 13 years at Houston and West Virginia who joined Nebraska for its final three games of the Big Ten season last fall. “It’s why the majority of our players came here. It’s for Big Ten football, the highest level of (college) football. I’m excited about it. I dabbled in it last year.
“No disrespect to Michigan, I’m just excited about Big Ten football.”
The Wolverines, of course, head to Lincoln without their head coach. How is the suspension of Moore impacting Michigan players ahead of the league opener?
Meek: I figured Moore’s suspension would go one of two ways. Either it would galvanize the team, or it would disrupt Michigan’s chemistry and confidence. It certainly appeared to do the former against Central Michigan. Poggi called that 63-3 victory a “love letter” to Moore and a testament to the bond between the players and their head coach.
“Football does not attract, typically, a bunch of nature’s noblemen,” Poggi said. “Football is a game where most adults are looking to get to the next level, the next job, the next paycheck. They say that they love and care about their players, and I’m sure they do. But this guy, I’ve never seen anything like it. When he’s out, it is an enormous void in the building because of the heart-to-heart, human relationship factor.”
Moore was allowed to coach in practice leading up to the Central Michigan game but was barred from having any contact with players or staff this week. He left a detailed plan for what he wants to see this week, but ultimately it will be up to Poggi and Michigan’s assistant coaches to carry out that plan.
Moore’s absence wasn’t a big deal when Michigan was rolling against Central Michigan. The Wolverines faced little resistance in that game, but they can’t expect it to be that easy against Nebraska. I do wonder what will happen the first time Nebraska makes a big play, forces a turnover or gets Underwood out of rhythm. When that happened against Oklahoma, Michigan wasn’t able to get Underwood back on track. If that script repeats against Nebraska, it could mean a rough day for Michigan and a breakthrough win for Raiola and Rhule.
(Top photo: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)