Kansas City Chiefs' champion quarterback Patrick Mahomes shouted out Nebraska football's rookie QB Dylan Raiola for his incredible 59-yard touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Isaiah Neyor against UTEP on Saturday. Raiola, whose face resembles the Super Bowl champion quarterback, landed the perfect pass through two defenders before Neyor ran it to the end zone for a touchdown in the 40-7 lopsided victory.
Mahomes quoted the highlight with the comment, “Lil cuzzo!!” to his X, formerly Twitter. It was a friendly nod to the ongoing joke that the two familiar quarterbacks are related.
Perhaps Raiola's resemblance to Mahomes extends beyond facial looks. It's safe to say the Raiola/Mahomes comparisons will not disappear anytime soon.
Nebraska football beats UTEP 40-7 in Dylan Raiola's NCAA debut
Nebraska football quarterback rookie Dylan Raiola couldn't have asked for a better start to his NCAA football career. His show-stopping touchdown pass made headlines and garnered the attention of the NFL's defending Super Bowl champion quarterback, Patrick Mahomes.
Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule couldn't have predicted it any better. However, before the season kicked off, he spoke of not wanting to make anything easy for Raiola, wanting to prepare the 19-year-old quarterback for the highs and lows of being a young quarterback before throwing him into the fire. Raiola out of the gate passed his first test with flying colors despite Rhule's cautionary preference for how his young quarterback would start his collegiate career.
“I'd rather lose the first game than the last game. So, we're not going to ease into it,” Rhule said, per Fansided. “Dylan's going to play. He's going to play the plays. When we call drop back, he's going to drop back, he's going to go back there, and take his drop, go through his progression.
“Just how we want him to play when he's a junior, we're going to start day one that way. We're not easing into anything.”
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Raiola is only the second true freshman quarterback to start a season opener for Nebraska football since 2018. In only his second year with the Nebraska football program, Rhule decided to go with Raiola as his QB1.
“I remind him of this position, ‘You're the quarterback at the University of Nebraska,'” Rhule said, per the New York Times. “You better be ready to ride the highs and lows — and your life better not be about what other people think about you.”
Nebraska football will face Colorado football next Saturday.
