No Dylan Raiola? No problem for Nebraska football.
As you know, Raiola didn’t make the trip to UCLA. He’s recovering from surgery to repair a broken fibula suffered in the USC game.
Nebraska defeated the Bruins in the Rose Bowl 28-21 Saturday night. And freshman TJ Lateef’s performance in place of Raiola was about as flawless as you could have imagined.
Despite his absence, however, Raiola had an impact on the Huskers’ seventh victory. With his “mentoring,” Matt Rhule said, Lateef “was more than ready for that moment.”
Lateef, only the fifth true freshman quarterback to start a game in Nebraska history, is a “really mature version of a young player,” said Rhule.
For the record, the others were Tommie Frazier (1992), Cody Green (2009), Adrian Martinez (2018) and, of course, Raiola last season.
Anyway, consider the numbers. Lateef completed 13-of-15 passes, including the first 11, for 205 yards and three touchdowns and carried five times for 31 yards. His first carry was on Nebraska’s first play from scrimmage, 14 yards. When that happened, Emmett Johnson figured, “OK, he’s locked in.”
So was Johnson, as always. He carried 28 times for 129 yards and a touchdown and caught three passes for 103 yards and two touchdowns. He was the first running back in Husker history to have 100 yards rushing and receiving in the same game. “He’s so mature, he’s an absolute weapon,” said Rhule.
Johnson and Lateef dominated the first half. Nebraska had only three possessions — not counting a kneel-down to end the half — all of which ended in touchdowns. On the first possession, the Huskers went 61 yards in nine plays, ending with Lateef’s 2-yard pass to Jacory Barney Jr. The second was 75 yards in four plays, the fourth a 56-yard touchdown run by Johnson. The third 60 yards in nine plays, the ninth a 1-yard Johnson touchdown. Nebraska faced third down only twice in the three possessions.
The Huskers drove 76 yards in six plays, the sixth a 40-yard Lateef-to-Johnson pass play for a touchdown, on the first series of the second half then held on to win.
UCLA scored with 4:54 remaining to cut the score to 28-21, but the Bruins never got the ball back. Lateef passes to Dane Key, 7 yards, and Nyziah Hunter, 17 yards, and the running of Johnson kept UCLA from regaining the ball. Nebraska went into victory formation on the final three plays.
The Huskers’ biggest problem defensively was Bruin quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who completed 17-of-25 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns, but more importantly, perhaps, he was UCLA’s leading rusher with 86 yards on 15 carries. The Blackshirts did, however, sack him three times.
Rover DeShon Singleton was Nebraska’s leading tackler, with 11, including eight in the first half. Linebacker Javin Wright had nine. Tackle Keona Davis and Jack outside linebacker Williams Nwaneri had sacks, tackle Riley Van Poppel and Nickel back Ceyair Wright combined on the other sack.
Though UCLA dropped to 3-6, the Bruins seem revitalized under interim head coach Tim Skipper. After a loss in his first game, UCLA won three Big Ten games in a row before falling to second-ranked Indiana, as everyone has. So Nebraska’s victory, by the same score as its last victory against Northwestern, was no small accomplishment, particularly with a first-time starter at quarterback.
“Hey, shout-out to the o-line,” Lateef interjected near the end of his and Johnson’s post-game media availability. He and Johnson also credited the blocking of the wide receivers, including Barney, Hunter and Key.
The Huskers are still a work in progress, according to Rhule. “We’re like the streets in Lincoln,” he said. “We’re under construction.”
Right now, two key pieces are Johnson and, without Raiola, Lateef.
The bottom line, however, it was “a great team win,” Rhule said.
