LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Homecoming weekend was a good thing for the USC Trojans football team. Coming off a road loss to Washington, the Trojans got back to winning, defeating the Nebraska Cornhuskers behind the debut of quarterback Jayden Maiava.
“He gave guys opportunities to make plays throughout the game,” USC head coach Lincoln Riley said afterward. “And so, I thought it showed some poise. And you could tell he’s played some college ball but I know he was excited, nervous, all of that for his first opportunity to really play here at USC.”
Maiava accounted for four touchdowns, including throwing for three scores, which gave USC a 28-20 win against Nebraska at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The win moves the Trojans to .500 for the season with a 5-5 record.
“That was an awesome win, awesome win,” Riley remarked. “Team was incredibly resilient the entire day. I thought our effort, attitude and physicality really showed up on both sides of the ball. We made some mistakes where we had some opportunities to separate. But just super proud at the very end, the last drive offensively and then closing the door defensively there at the end was tremendous.”
With two games left to be played on their schedule, Riley’s team will likely have to win out to secure a bowl bid. That includes beating crosstown rival UCLA on the road before wrapping up the regular season against a powerful Notre Dame squad at home.
With that said, what Maiva does throughout the next two games, and the possibility of a bowl game being played, will determine if he is the right quarterback fit to lead the Trojans.
After Caleb Williams took his talents to the NFL, that right quarterback for Riley and the USC football program appeared to center on Miller Moss, the hero of last year’s Holiday Bowl.
With Williams on the sideline watching, Moss threw for a Holiday Bowl record of six touchdowns to lead USC to a 42-28 win against Louisville. Since taking over the starting quarterback position, things have been rocky for Moss.
The Trojans lost five games under his watch. His three-interception performance in a road loss to Washington led Riley and the Trojans to roll their marbles with Maiava, a transfer from UNLV. The jury is still out on whether Maiava is that guy for the Trojans in the long haul, but if you had to judge a first impression, the redshirt sophomore delivered the goods.
USC’s first three scores of the game against Nebraska came by way of Maiava’s right arm. The Trojans closed out the Cornhuskers in this Big Ten Conference matchup with Maiava scoring on a short run in the fourth quarter.
Maiava completed 25 of 35 passes for 259 yards and three touchdowns. He also used his legs at times, gaining 20 yards on five carries and securing the Trojans’ fifth win of the season with his rushing touchdown.
Duce Robinson, who caught four of Maiava’s passes for 90 yards, including a 48-yard touchdown pass, is impressed with his new starting quarterback.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, He’s a playmaker,” Robinson said. “When you have an arm like that, you can have confidence in it. I think it also speaks to the work that we put in in the off season, with all the guys.”
“We were out there, doing extra work, running extra routes every single day, and we were able to build that trust to where he does trust us to put the ball out there and go up and get it. So like Jaylin said it’s just a testimony to hard work and all the work we did together,” Robinson added.
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, race, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University. Email Dennis at dfreeman@news4usonline.com