Dylan Raiola barely had time to settle in before he flipped the game on its head.
Coming off the bench in the fourth quarter, Raiola led Oregon from a two-score hole and delivered the knockout punch himself, hitting Jamari Johnson on a 4-yard touchdown pass with 28 seconds left to seal a 17-14 comeback win over Nebraska on Saturday night in Eugene, Ore.
Raiola, who spent two seasons with Nebraska before transferring to Oregon in the offseason, entered with the Huskers in control, 14-6. His first drive ended with Gage Hurych’s 37-yard field goal, trimming the deficit and starting the Ducks’ late push.
Then came the wild finish: Raiola initially appeared to find Dakorien Moore for a 4-yard touchdown with 33 seconds remaining, but the play was wiped out on review. Oregon answered with one more shot, and Raiola found Johnson in the back of the end zone.
The 2-point conversion followed, and the Ducks walked it off.
“Everyone was dialed in,” Raiola said about the final drive. “We just kept preparing until the end and JJ had a cute little toe-drag touchdown to win the game.”
Nebraska had spent most of the night doing enough to stay in front. Anthony Colandrea completed 18 of 33 passes for 164 yards and a touchdown and added 33 rushing yards and another score. But for the second straight week, the Cornhuskers let a fourth-quarter lead slip away after losing to Indiana 20-17 last weekend.
“Obviously, we have a pretty devastated football team in there - a bunch of guys that showed up and competed. And, for the second week in a row, we just came up short,” Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said. “I thought it was one of the finer defensive performances I’ve been around, with short fields and not much help, and in the end it just kind of wore out.”
Oregon’s quarterback situation was messy from the start. Third-string Brock Thomas opened the game but never got the Ducks going, finishing 9 of 20 for 54 yards and an interception before Raiola took over.
Dante Moore, Oregon’s starter, remained sidelined after suffering a concussion in the Ducks’ 41-27 win over USC on Sept. 26.
Raiola finished 11 of 18 for 59 yards in the fourth quarter alone, and Oregon suddenly had life.
Dan Lanning didn’t dodge the reality of what it took to get there. He also praised Thomas for how he handled the switch.
“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 that moment to know, `Hey, I’m good with it. Let’s do whatever we got to do to win,'” Lanning said.
The first half was a slog. The game stayed scoreless until late in the second quarter, when Colandrea found Kwazi Gilmer in the back corner of the end zone. The teams traded punts constantly - 13 of them before halftime - and each side turned it over once.
Nebraska pushed its lead to 14-6 on Colandrea’s 6-yard scramble at the end of the third quarter, a dive at the pylon that seemed to give the Huskers some breathing room.
But Oregon’s offense never fully settled in, even as the game wore on. Three second-half drives, including one helped by an accidental kneel down on a low snap to Nebraska punter Archie Wilson, ended with field goals. Before Raiola entered, the Ducks had managed only 91 total yards.
Oregon improved to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten. Nebraska dropped to 5-2 and 2-2. The Cornhuskers play Oct. 31 at Washington.
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Oregons Comeback Was Fueled By Unsung Ducks Fans Cant Ignore
Nebraska had the early edge, but Oregon steadied itself and turned the game with a quarterback change that put Dylan Raiola in position to spark the comeback. Even before the offense found its rhythm, the Ducks defense kept the margin within reach, and that mattered just as much as the late surge. It was the kind of win that looked messy for stretches and still ended with Oregon in control, thanks to a roster that kept making plays when the pressure built.
Hudson Lewis, Jalen Lott, Brandon Smith and kicker Gage Hurych all had a hand in finishing the job, and defensive coordinator Chris Hampton drew credit for the way Oregon handled things on that side of the ball. For a team that had to work through an uneven start, the breadth of the contribution stood out as much as the comeback itself. The Ducks didnt just survive the slow beginning, they leaned on unsung pieces to pull away when the game demanded it. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Fans Have One Big AP Poll Debate After Costly Loss
The AP Top 25 is set for a shakeup after a wild Saturday that saw five teams in the top seven go down, and that kind of chaos always has ripple effects far beyond the teams that actually lost. For Oregon, the timing matters because the Ducks are part of the group whose position could be affected by all the movement above them, with the poll likely to look very different once the latest ballots are counted.
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Matt Rhule Sends Clear Message After Nebraskas Painful Oregon Finish
Nebraska walked out of Autzen Stadium with a 17-14 loss, but the postgame tone from Matt Rhule was less about excuses and more about perspective. The Cornhuskers had pushed Oregon deep into the fourth quarter before junior quarterback Dylan Raiola came off the bench and delivered the game-winning touchdown pass to tight end Jamari Johnson, a finish that left Nebraska with plenty to process after a tight, physical battle.
Rhule made clear he was standing by Raiola, a former player of his, while also pointing to the toll of the matchup itself. He said fatigue played a role and credited Oregons run game for wearing Nebraska down, but he would not hang the result on the late kickoff time. For a team still trying to measure itself against elite competition, the message was plain: games like this hurt, but they also show exactly where the standard has to be. [Read more 🡒]