It was pretty simple for USC football before facing Nebraska on Saturday: win two of the last three games and the Trojans will be bowl eligible.
The waters couldn’t have been murkier this week for USC, testing uncharted territory by starting redshirt sophomore quarterback Jayden Maiava for the first time in a USC (throwback) uniform. Plus, head coach Lincoln Riley is starting to walk the plank after another season where he’s led the Trojans from being a highly ranked team to falling below .500.
Maiava’s the captain of this USC ship now, and it’s up to him to see how he can lead this team down the final stretch of the regular season.
It seemed like the ship was sinking fast after Maiava threw a pick 6 that was returned for 45 yards by Nebraska’s former Trojan and junior defensive back Ceyair Wright to open the game. Instead, Maiava began to patch those holes and shore up what went wrong on the following drives.
Maiava began to trust in himself more and create more opportunities for his weapons.
Even when things didn’t go according to plan, his teammates were there to support him. Sophomore receiver Duce Robinson proved that when he tracked back on a 28-yard catch that led to a touchdown for fellow sophomore receiver Zachariah Branch, as did redshirt junior receiver Kyron Hudson when he bobbled a catch off a Nebraska defender and caught the deflection with one hand for the touchdown.
“He gave guys opportunities to make plays really throughout the game and I thought it showed some poise,” Riley said. “You can tell he’s played some college ball.”
For the first time starting in a game in 11 months, Maiava’s dual-threat playmaking abilities definitely showed Trojan fans a glimpse of former quarterback Caleb Williams, something that redshirt junior quarterback Miller Moss wasn’t able to bring to the table.
Don’t twist the words though: Moss is a good quarterback, but he doesn’t fit Riley’s ideal quarterback scheme. He deserves to go somewhere where he can shine, and that might happen if Maiava is able to continue his momentum for the remaining two weeks.
For Maiava, something to watch going forward is his boom or doom potential. For anyone out there who loves the Costco Guys as much as I do, let me put it this way: Maiava gets four big BOOMS, but he also gets two dooms.
Speaking of a big boom, Maiava connected beautifully in stride with the six-foot-six Robinson for a 48-yard touchdown before later giving the Trojans the lead late in the game with a rushing touchdown.
“I did finish with a career high but it’s not about me,” Robinson said after notching a personal-best 90 yards. “It’s about the guys around me, with the offensive line playing the way he did and Jayden playing the way he did”
On a gloomy note, Maiava fumbled the ball away in great field position for Nebraska for his second turnover of the game. He and the Trojans were lucky the Cornhuskers only came away with three points.
Maiava’s tendency for the big play, whether good or bad, is something to look out for in the future. Considering how this was his first full game since last December, he fared pretty well among the sharks of the typically staunch Nebraska defense.
The ability to run with Maiava also opened up redshirt senior running back Woody Marks’ game. He finished with 150 yards on 19 carries and an ever-so-crucial 34-yard run to put Maiava in great field position to score his final touchdown.
If you’re reading this and noticing all of the ocean and shark references, those are intended because USC has a new celebration that represents its mentality. Each player put their hand to their helmet, acting like it was a fin lurking in the ocean. Even Maiava did it as well.
“Shark gang is more of a thing where we are on the field where we’re swarming to the ball for the defense,” senior cornerback Jaylin Smith said. “Even when we score or do anything like that, it shows that we’re all in.”
Smith has surely bought into that mentality, reading Nebraska’s freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola all the way and intercepting him in the second quarter.
Fast forward to the fourth quarter where Nebraska was down 28-20 with less than a minute left. Raiola was driving down the field like his idol and clone Patrick Mahomes, but Raiola couldn’t replicate him quite enough, throwing a pick to redshirt senior cornerback Greedy Vance Jr. to end the game.
The Trojans need to continue to be sharks on the field and attack the opposition, whether that’s on offense or defense. Four touchdowns from Maiava and two interceptions from the secondary is a good start, but the stakes are higher as the Trojans take on 2-6 UCLA next week, especially for the Southern California residents on the roster.
“My uncle went to UCLA and grew up a UCLA fan,” USC senior linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold said. “Now, he’s a Trojan for one year.”
Mascarenas-Arnold emphasized how the chippiness of the Nebraska game came from trash talk, which started when Nebraska had a pregame meeting on the Trojan logo. USC responded to that smack talk with a victory. Now, the Trojans need to keep the competitive juices flowing with UCLA and No. 6 Notre Dame to end the season, two teams that USC lost to badly last year as it seeks revenge.