Dylan Raiola came off the bench and did it again for Oregon.
With the Ducks staring at a 14-6 deficit and the offense stuck in the mud, Raiola entered to begin the fourth quarter and turned the night around, guiding Oregon to a 17-14 win over his former school Nebraska on a touchdown pass to Jamari Johnson in the final minute.
Oregon’s offense had gone nowhere with Brock Thomas under center, but Raiola immediately gave it life. He opened his stint with a 17-play, 69-yard march that ended in a field goal and trimmed Nebraska’s lead.
Then the defense handed him another chance. After forcing a Nebraska punt with 5:31 remaining, Oregon got the ball back and Raiola went to work again, steering an 82-yard drive over 20 plays to chew up the clock and finish with the go-ahead score with less than 30 seconds left.
Raiola’s line showed how quickly the game changed once he stepped in: 11-for-18 for 59 yards and a touchdown. In just one quarter, he threw for more yards than Thomas managed in three quarters.
The performance lands one week after Raiola was benched in the loss to UCLA. In that game, he completed just 6 of 19 passes for 43 yards and two interceptions before being pulled, while the offense looked much sharper under Thomas and nearly rallied all the way back.
That was enough for Dan Lanning to give Thomas the start on Saturday with QB1 Dante Moore still sidelined by injury. Instead, Thomas struggled through the afternoon, going 9 of 20 for 54 yards with an interception.
That left Lanning with no choice but to go back to Raiola, who is now 2-0 when coming off the bench this season.
For Nebraska, it was another brutal finish. The Cornhuskers also led in the fourth quarter last week against Indiana before losing by three, and this time they watched another late lead disappear as Oregon walked off with the win.
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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 🡒]
Oregons Late Quarterback Switch Changed Everything Against Nebraska
A late quarterback change ended up reshaping Oregons win over Nebraska, with Dylan Raiola coming off the bench in the fourth quarter and helping the Ducks rally from behind. He finished the comeback with a touchdown pass to Jamari Johnson and then helped Oregon punch in the two-point conversion with less than 30 seconds left, turning what had been a tight, tense finish into a 17-14 victory.
For Oregon, the sequence only added to the sense that this team can survive pressure in different ways, even when the script changes late. Dan Lanning praised Raiolas courage and the Ducks overall performance, while Nebraska coach Matt Rhule pointed to the effort his team gave despite the loss, a reminder of how little margin there was throughout the night. [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.
Indianas loss grabbed plenty of attention, but the broader debate now is how voters sort through the wreckage when so many contenders stumbled at once. BYU and Oregon are among the teams watching closely as the rankings sort themselves out, and the next poll should offer a much clearer picture of who benefited most from the days upheaval. [Read more 🡒]