Illinois’ Bret Bielema talks Dylan Raiola, Nebraska history ahead of Friday showdown

Dylan Raiola. On a Husker roster stocked with familiar names, the freshman former five-star quarterback prospect adds a new dimension to an offense that slogged out a 20-7 win at Illinois a year ago.

“He brings a different element immediately,” Bielema said Monday. “He’s a very talented young man that’s got incredible awareness. Very talented. Got a great deep-ball throw. They maximize and utilize him pretty well.

“I think early downs, third downs, there’s some things you can literally see him get better on every series. Just very impressive to see. I know he’s a highly recruited player and brought a lot of attention — deservedly so.”

The gregarious fourth-year Illini coach can otherwise talk Nebraska football history since he first experienced the Memorial Stadium crowd as Iowa’s linebacker coach in 2000 and prepared to defend Eric Crouch and Bobby Newcombe in 1999.

He beat the Huskers as Kansas State’s co-defensive coordinator in 2004 and 2005. He’s good friends with Barry Alvarez, a Nebraska alum and his former boss at Wisconsin. He led the Badgers to the 2012 Big Ten title game where they beat Big Red 70-31.

He arrives in a sea of red Friday as the school celebrates its history in the 400th consecutive home sellout.

“It’s a very high football-IQ crowd,” Bielema said. “They know what’s going on. They understand it. They get it. And they play to it. That doesn’t happen by chance.”

A ranked-on-ranked game on Friday night is “a bit unusual,” he said, but fitting for what both 3-0 teams have accomplished a quarter of the way through the regular season. Coach Matt Rhule has built Nebraska “in the right way,” he said.

Bielema added the Illini may have found a new weapon in Texas A&M transfer kicker Ethan Moczulski, who connected on a school-record 59-yard field goal to end the first half last week. Moczulski also has 13 touchbacks in 20 kickoffs.

“The good news is he gives us a chance, especially at those end-of-half and end-of-game scenarios that maybe doesn’t exist for a lot of other people,” Bielema said.