He played college football for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, where he won the inaugural Rimington Trophy and earned All-American honors in 2000.

In 1999, he became the first sophomore center for the team since Dave Rimington to participate in postseason play, and set a school record for knockdowns, which he bettered in 2000.

Following his junior season in 2000, he won the Rimington Trophy as the best center in college football, and was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American.

He was a key member of the offensive line which allowed only 20 quarterback sacks for the season, the lowest in the NFL and then a franchise record.

He also played more special teams, and became the long snapper when Bradford Banta broke his clavicle against the San Diego Chargers.

He again became responsible for long snapping after Jody Littleton incurred a hamstring injury against the Washington Redskins in the middle of November.

Following the 2009 season, Raiola was named the recipient of the Detroit Lions/Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association/Pro Football Writers Association's Media-Friendly "Good Guy" Award.

The Good Guy Award is given yearly to the Detroit Lions player who shows consideration to, and cooperation with the media at all times during the course of the season.

The Patriots ran for a late touchdown when they could have taken three kneel-downs and ended the game with a 27–9 win over the Lions, and that decision rankled Raiola.

Raiola said after the game that he tried to cut-block Moore on the Lions' final offensive snap as retaliation for the score, which resulted in an even more lopsided 34–9 loss for Detroit.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick responded during a press conference the following day, saying, "Sure there was a lot of frustration there with Raiola.

"[10] NFL spokesman Michael Signora said the following Wednesday that Raiola was fined $10,000 for unnecessary roughness, but not for his cut block on Zach Moore on the game's final play.

His father, a native of Hawaii, was a defensive lineman for the University of Miami in the mid-1970s, but saw his career cut short due to a shoulder injury in 1977.