By james art 
Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola has a good health prognosis after suffering a nasty blow to his back in NU’s loss at UCLA.
Husker coach Matt Rhule said Monday that a scan on Raiola’s back showed no lingering injury as Nebraska enters a bye week. Raiola suffered a “back injury”, Ruhl said, which will have time to heal.
“He probably would have been questionable for this week if we had played,” Rule said. “He should be available for next week.”
Raiola was hit in the back during a scrimmage in the fourth quarter of NU’s 27-20 loss to UCLA. Raiola briefly tried to get back into the game before his back buckled and he fell to the ground.
“I thought I could go, I thought I could fight,” Raiola said after Saturday’s game. “I was going there and I guess it kind of stuck with me.”
Raiola completed 14 of 27 passes for 177 yards and a touchdown against the Bruins. He also threw a costly pick-six to start the third quarter when the Huskers’ turnover and red-zone woes resurfaced.
NU lost its third game in a row.
“It’s a tough time, so we have to be a good organization,” Ruhl said of a week that will include “introspection” and preparation for USC. Ruhl said he will bring in “friends in the business” this week to take another look at his team.
His job is to “think everything through” as it relates to the Huskers’ struggling offense, which hasn’t run the ball well enough to control the game, Rhule said, or finish on key shots.
“I thought we were going to play better offensively than we have,” Ruhl said. “I thought we were going to run the ball better.”
In the last four contests, Nebraska’s offense has scored 14, 7, 17 and 20 points while averaging 290 yards per contest. Heading into this week’s games, NU ranked 99th nationally in yards per game, 100th in points per game and 107th in yards per game.
The Huskers are scoring 18.3 points per game in Big Ten play. Asked directly how offensively coordinator Marcus Satterfield is calling plays, Rhule said he will spend time this week reviewing Satterfield’s work. While not overtly defending Satterfield, Rhule said he wants “accountability” from the entire team, including the players.
“This is probably the first time you’ve heard me say, ‘The players have to play,'” Ruhl said. “They have to play. They can’t just say “did you read what they say about Sat?” You are sat. You are the insult. You’re on the field.”
Despite surpassing last year’s scoring and passing yards, the 2023 offense represents NU’s lowest mark in the Big Ten and Big 12 eras.
Satterfield, who worked for Rhule at Temple, Baylor and the Carolina Panthers, became one of Rhule’s first hires at Nebraska after calling plays for two years at South Carolina. His $1.4 million salary was among the ten highest in the Big Ten last season; it has since been surpassed by several coordinators around the league, including Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White.