Penn State’s decision to fire longtime head coach James Franklin after their third consecutive loss in Week 7 has sent shockwaves around the college football landscape, with many questioning who could be his eventual successor. Quickly, Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule emerged as an obvious fit.
Given the fact that Rhule was once a walk-on linebacker during Joe Paterno’s tenure at Penn State, it didn’t take long for Rhule to be named one of the top candidates to potentially fill the absence left by Franklin’s firing.
Thus far, Rhule hasn’t given any clear indication that he has any interest in leaving Nebraska for Penn State, despite the fact that he did admit that he has been a lifelong Penn State fan and that he still has a deep connection to the program.
One of the many reasons why Rhule may want to stay at Nebraska instead of taking the Penn State job is to see out what he has built at Nebraska, and especially to continue to develop sophomore quarterback Dylan Raiola.
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Raiola has shown steady growth in his second season in Rhule’s system in Nebraska, completing 73.4 percent of his passes on the year while throwing for 1,591 yards and 16 passing touchdowns, with only five interceptions.
Together, Raiola and Rhule have entirely turned the Nebraska program around this season into a dark-horse CFP contender if they can continue their early-season success.
On Tuesday, Raiola addressed all of the speculation involving Rhule and the Penn State coaching vacancy, making a declaration that he believes his coach will be staying at Nebraska for the foreseeable future.
“He ain’t going nowhere,” said Raiola, via Robin Washut of On3 Sports.
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Maybe this is wishful thinking from the Nebraska quarterback. Or, maybe he knows something about Rhule’s preferences that others simply don’t, based on the time he has spent with his head coach.
Either way, Rhule has made it clear that his focus for the time being is on the Nebraska program and their upcoming week 8 game against Minnesota on Friday night. So it will surely be interesting to see whether Raiola can continue his impressive play moving forward in hopes of enticing his coach to stay at Nebraska for the long haul.
For more on the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Matt Rhule, Dylan Raiola, and all things college football, head to Newsweek Sports.
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