CBS analyst breaks down Dylan Raiola’s first-year potential, Nebraska-Colorado game

INDIANAPOLIS — In his four years as Colorado’s head coach, Rick Neuheisel never beat Nebraska, but he came to appreciate the big stakes each time the two teams took the field between 1995 and 1998.

So Neuheisel, a CBS analyst and radio host, sees NU’s Sept. 7 game vs. Buffaloes as the “kind of stage that game deserves.” A 6:30 p.m. kickoff on NBC.

“Both programs are trying to get back to the level of where they were at the top of the heap and playing not for just conference prizes but national prizes,” Neuheisel said of the Huskers and Buffaloes, who finished 5-7 and 4-8, respectively, last season. “… So it’s fun to see these two programs get this type of stage.

“I know the folks in Memorial Stadium will be jazzed and ready to go.”

Nebraska will be looking for a “payback” opportunity, too.

Neuheisel said he knows of freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola from Raiola’s time living and playing high school football in Arizona.

“Everybody raved about him,” Neuheisel said. “There’s going to be a lot of pressure on him because he’s been trying to resurrect a program that’s been down since 2016.”

How much can Nebraska groom Raiola in one year? How much offense can he learn? That’s one key, Neuheisel said, to how well Nebraska fares in one-score games.

“All those little things become heightened when it’s one score,” Neuheisel said. “Nebraska has been on the wrong end of those one-score games for far too long. So making those plays —  is that because (Raiola) is unique as a talent, or because coaches are holding him back not to make that big mistake… it’ll be interesting where, on that spectrum, they find him.”