Miller Moss is not Caleb Williams. USC football will be different in 2024. Seeing that sentence — “Miller Moss is not Caleb Williams” — could be viewed as a negative, but that’s not necessarily true. Caleb Williams is a dazzling talent, a Heisman Trophy winner, and a soon-to-be No. 1 NFL draft pick. He is fantastic. Yet, Miller Moss being different from Caleb can play into certain strengths and make the USC offense quite productive and efficient.
One thing Miller Moss very clearly showed in the Holiday Bowl was an ability — and more than that, a willingness — to throw checkdowns, to get rid of the ball quickly, to not hang onto the ball too long and put his offensive linemen in a compromised position. Caleb Williams did a ton of great things for USC in 2023, but if there was one central knock on him, it was that he held the ball too long. Offensive linemen couldn’t sustain their blocks in certain situations, and plays devolved into chaos.
Miller Moss, when throwing the ball quickly and on time in Lincoln Riley’s scheme, made stacks of big plays in the Holiday Bowl, and his offensive linemen were not overburdened against a legitimately good Louisville front line. That is the blueprint and vision for how USC’s offense can thrive and function in 2024, with Moss making accurate reads before the snap and then equally accurate throws to open receivers. We discussed this and much more with Mark Rogers at The Voice of College Football:
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