he got off the team bus first led the team out of the tunnel scored on his first drive at Nebraska and was out of the game midway through the third quarter hello everybody I'm Sam mun with the Omaha World Harald and Husker extra and Dylan Rola had himself a day folks Nebraska wins easily 40 to7 but the bigger story today is obviously going to be the first start of Dylan riola he was pretty pretty good folks he threw a couple of touchdowns one to Isaiah neor the other one to Jamal Banks he executed a two-minute drill really really well hit three passes on that drive down the ball when he had to threw it in a spot where only banks could get it right before the end of the first half and again it was pretty folks Nebraska's defense did its usual thing holding UTEP to 205 yards but the Husker offense had 507 yards and the way that they got it done 223 on the ground 284 through the air isn't like anything we saw last season Nebraska was able to throw the football today and they promised that they had worked on it in the off season and that is EXA ly what we saw it was good early Dylan R hit a key third down isor on that first drive that's set up a touchdown by Dante Dowell Raya then hit that long pass to neor 59 yards lot that was neor making a great play and then breaking a couple of tackles but R was really good on that pass as well and then the two-minute drill was probably his best work of all took a sack came out for a play went back in and delivered it was very very pretty Nebraska's run offense was pretty good today they only had one long run em but Johnson had 42 yards on a run but they dominated physically and they probably could have had 300 today but Matt rule decided to put in his backups about Midway through the third quarter all four backs played I don't know who played the best probably Dante Dowell until he fumbled but then they didn't put him back in after he fumbled ramir Johnson probably got the most totes Gabe bvin got two touchdowns he didn't play necessarily a ton but he got two scores and Emett Johnson I thought probably ran the best but they're going to continue that that competition in the next week when they play Colorado defensively Nebraska gave up the one long play right the the one long pass on kind of a slot fade over Malcolm hartzog's head that was the only time today that did not manage Utah's Tempo well I'm sure Matt rule will talk about it in the postgame press conference but it's really not that big of a deal Nebraska's defense was very good today holding the minor to just 56 yards rushing and they did that without a bunch of sacks so this was a really good run defense day everything you could want out of a season opener they actually got for the first time since 2019 they played at home it's a beautiful day Nebraska defense played well and riola delivered in front of a big crowd they gave him a big Roar when he ran out on the field he was very very impressive early and often and again he's out of the game midway through the third quarter throwing for more than 200 yards and a couple of touchdowns now the tests get tougher from here Colorado which beat North Dakota State on Thursday night is a much better football team than UTEP I won't be surprised if UTEP only wins two or three games this year I'm telling you you don't have to believe me Colorado is a better team than they were last year here and they are probably a bow Team in the Big 12 that is a good football team coming in here and they have a great quarterback it's shador Sanders but guess what as the crowd yells for Dylan RI as he walks off the field but guess what Nebraska's got a quarterback now too RI can sling it folks he can throw it sidearm he can throw it over the top he can do what needs to be done and Nebraska's got receivers and Banks and neor were as good as many of the guys in the Big 10 I'm not saying Ohio State good but they're pretty good and Nebraska now invites Colorado into this step osphere 6:30 Saturday night next week it should be a zoo it should be a lot of fun it'll be Sanders against Rola and it could be closer than last year's competition for sure with the Omaha World heral and Husker extra I'm Sam mchu