Nebraska Football: Dylan Raiola press conference after beating UTEP (Aug. 31, 2024)

how long have you waited for this moment and kind of break down your first game here I think I've been waiting since I could think about playing football probably eight years old um I mean just try to take it all in um not be like tough guy football player you know you got to be a human and enjoy the enjoy the scene and um yeah it was a lot of fun and you know fans showed out know like I knew they would what was it like having all the fans around you there for the first play having all of of Memorial Stadium behind you yeah it means a lot um to have that kind of support for our team and uh and just to have have them behind us you know it's there's no place like it and um very grateful to be in this position um with all my teammates and um yeah I'm grateful that first touchdown pass the expectation be the reality of when it happened yeah I uh when I threw the ball um you know I kind of got hit um and I didn't really see it Go and so I just listened for the crowd and when they when they you know were cheering and I looked and Z started stumbling and was like just stay up just stay up and score and uh he did and he made a tremendous play on it I you made it what's going through your mind is you're trying to manage that moment because it's kind of a tight clock there and then the Thro of Jamal um your coach is very praiseworthy of how you handled that moment what was going through your own yeah I've been our team has been trained on um on those situations um and you know obviously having that communication in the helmet um helps um but you know we we've seen a lot of those situations come up in practice so when it came into the game we just fell back to level of our training and um Jamal made a fantastic catch and um you know that was a big touchdown to end of the half what you see on on the play 's long run um where you had to make a check and I think there was a defensive check um coach was complimentary of of your your mind worked the way it worked on that what what what did you see from the defense yeah it was just a look we saw all week can film um we weren't sure if we wanted to do um what we were trying to check into um and I think two nights ago um my uncle came to me and told me like this is what we want to do and like let's do it so you know we got into the look and they adjusted and uh you know we adjusted back to what we wanted and um EMT put his foot in the ground and made a huge run and and that set us up to score on that opening drive Dy how do you think you play I think I did pretty good um you know obviously there's a lot of lot of things that that we want to fix and and and uh clean up but um you know it's hard to get wins in college football um and for for our team to get get the first one of the season um you know it's exciting and uh yeah just look forward to getting better on that opening drive I mean going down and leading the offense to a touchdown I mean how important was that to kind of set the tone for how the offense is going to operate yeah uh we we love the challenge that we get the ball first um and we just we just knew like we we practiced all week we've practiced honestly since January on on for that moment um to start the game off right and our guys came out and um set the tone our old line was moving people running backs are running over people and receivers making plays so um I was very very pleased on on how we handled that got in a bit of a tough situation early with the second and 30 on the first drive just how did the offense get out of that and you know get to the done after being backed up so far yeah it's just a what's next mentality um you know we say it we say it and you know it's one thing to say it and then to believe it and act on it um so I'm very very proud on how we acted on that uh coaches got us back in a Groove and um you know we kind of started rolling and and we didn't look back going back to Sam's question a couple of minutes ago on inh helmet communication how much did it help you having a coach in your ear not having to run over to the sideline and get some of that offensive adjustment while you're out there on the field uh it's it's nice to have that um you know it's it's it's really just the play call um it's tell us the play call and then you know we have our whatever we have in that play um but it's very helpful uh to have have your offensive coordinator talking to you and um you know kind of it just brings a calming to you um to hear you know hear him call the play he's very calm in the headset and um yeah I I like what like having it youare share a special moment with your your dad and family down on the field could you tell how he was processing the day yeah he had glasses on so I couldn't see if he was crying or not but uh yeah no that was that was a special moment um you know it's always a a ritual of ours to you know have a pregame prayer on the field but um to have it on you know col first college game all my family there um it been a little more especially my dad being going to this school and the mark he left was naming the stadium so yeah it was a great special moment for our family one we won't forget see the other quarterbacks get in how how fun was that for you to even see Guy like Jaylen get in who joined your team late get that opportunity yeah it's it's awesome to see those guys you know I'm get in they put a lot of work in um they do a lot of work for us and and that was our goal this game was to you know handle our business so the guys that busted their tail for you know scout team or you know second string get get those guys in and um yeah after the game Jaylen I just Shar shared a special moment like uh you know both our dreams came true um to his dream was to play here and and obviously my dream was to play in Nebraska so um yeah it was a special moment for us me ask real quick what are you most happy with today like what you most pleased by your game today uh I think just you know kind of handling that low we had um it I thought we handled it very well uh you know I couldn't couldn't have done it without my team and um my offensive line protecting me and um at the end of the day my receivers made plays and and their defense didn't um that's what it comes down to is just making plays and I'm very very happy that that we made those plays and um you know excited to keep going all right thank you