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Stryker Pregame Perspective: Passing TD Flurry Predicted for 2025 Huskers

Nearly two-thirds of fans surveyed expect Nebraska to score by air more often than by ground this season.
Tad Stryker|
Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola (15) celebrates with wide receiver Dane Key after a touchdown against Cincinnati last week.
Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola (15) celebrates with wide receiver Dane Key after a touchdown against Cincinnati last week. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

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Nebraska Cornhuskers

Cornhusker fans are not dialing back their expectations for Dylan Raiola in his sophomore year — not in the least.

Raiola started every game during his baptism by fire as a true freshman, throwing 13 touchdown passes and being intercepted 11 times. That turned out to be a notch or two below preseason expectations by Husker fans who I surveyed before the 2024 season opener against UTEP, when 60 percent of them expected NU to score more passing touchdowns than rushing touchdowns in 2024.

By season’s end, however, the Huskers had rushed for 21 TDs, easily eclipsing their passing TD total.

I decided to ask the same question to 100 Husker fans in the Haymarket (as I did last year) on a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon before Nebraska hosted Akron in its home opener. The response was a little more decisive.

Perhaps influenced by Raiola’s two scoring passes in last week’s opener against Cincinnati at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, nearly two-thirds (66 people) predicted that NU will score more passing touchdowns than rushing TDs in 2025.

On this day at least, confidence in Raiola decisively overshadowed confidence in Husker running back depth.

Lindenmeyer vs Cincy
Nebraska tight end Luke Lindenmeyer tightropes the sideline after making a catch last week against Cincinnati. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

However, history is on the side of the running game. This century, only four times — in 2006 and 2007 under Bill Callahan and in 2015 and 2017 under Mike Riley — have the Huskers scored more passing TDs than rushing.

In 2008 under Bo Pelini and in 2022 under Scott Frost and interim coach Mickey Joseph, the Huskers scored equal amounts by passing and rushing.

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Tad Stryker
TAD STRYKER

Tad Stryker, whose earliest memories of Nebraska football take in the last years of the Bob Devaney era, has covered Nebraska collegiate and prep sports for 40 years. Before moving to Lincoln, he was a sports writer, columnist and editor for two newspapers in North Platte. He can identify with fans who listen to Husker sports from a tractor cab and those who watch from a sports bar. A history buff, Stryker has written for HuskerMax since 2008. You can reach Tad at tad.stryker@gmail.com.

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