Tag: Jayden Maiava

Woody Marks continues to show that he is USC’s best offensive player

Woody Marks continues to deliver for USC. In a lost season with so many frustrations and failures, Marks has been a clear shining light for the Trojans.

For the past week, the majority of the attention surrounding USC football has been dedicated to the quarterback position. With head coach Lincoln Riley opting to replace Miller Moss with Jayden Maiava prior to Saturday’s game against Nebraska, Maiava’s play was under a microscope the entire afternoon. On Saturday, however, we were treated to a reminder that the Trojans’ best offensive player is neither Moss, nor Maiava, nor any quarterback. Rather, it is star running back Woody Marks.

Against Nebraska, Marks delivered yet another impressive performance, carrying the ball 19 times for 146 yards. In addition, he caught six passes for 36 yards.

Marks has now gone over 100 yards rushing in six of USC’s ten games this season. On Saturday, he became the first Trojan to record 1,000 rushing yards in a season since Ronald Jones in 2017. (We should point out that Travis Dye was well on his way to surpassing the mark in 2022 prior to suffering a season-ending injury against Colorado with multiple games left in the season.)

Marks’s best play of the day came in the biggest moment. With under six minutes remaining in the game and USC leading 21-20, the Trojans faced a 4th and 1 from the Nebraska 47 yard line.

Marks decided to put the team on his back and take matters into his own hands. He cut through the defense and burst down the sideline for a 34-yard gain, giving the Trojans a first down at the Nebraksa 13 yard-line. Four plays later, USC was in the end zone with a much-needed insurance touchdown that ultimately put the game out of reach.

On paper, that drive will go down as having ended with Maiava touchdown run. But don’t get things twisted: By far the most important play on that drive (and arguably of the game) belonged to Marks.

With the game in the balance, Lincoln Riley put the ball in the hands of his best offensive player. And boy, did he deliver.

Obviously, quarterback is the most important position in not just football, but in all of sports. It is pretty much impossible to win in today’s day and age without a good signal-caller.

But even in today’s era of pass-happy attacks and spread offenses, running backs still matter. As we were reminded on Saturday, the Trojans have a pretty darn good one.

Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, Ducks Wire, UW Huskies Wire and UCLA Wire.

Jayden Maiava played well enough to win, but turnovers are cause for concern

There was a lot of good and a lot of bad for Jayden Maiava. The main thing to remember is that this was only his first start. Improvement should occur.

On Saturday, USC quarterback Jayden Maiava made his first start in Cardinal and Gold when the Trojans took on Nebraska. As expected with any new starting QB, Maiava’s performance was a mixed bag. There were some very high highs, but also some very low lows.

Overall, Maiava played a solid game. He completed 25 of 35 passes for 259 yards and three touchdowns, while also adding another score on the ground.

However, he also had two horrible turnovers, both of which, to put it bluntly, were simply inexcusable plays. The two turnovers essentially handed 10 points to a Nebraska team that was struggling offensively, keeping the Cornhuskers in the game.

On USC’s second possession of the game, Maiava threw a brutal interception to old friend Ceyair Wright in which there were no receivers anywhere near the ball. Wright returned the pick 45 yards for a touchdown, giving Nebraska its first points of the game.

Later on, with the Trojans leading 21-17 in the third quarter, Maiava had a bad fumble on a rushing attempt deep inside USC territory. Nebraska got a field goal off the turnover, cutting the deficit to one point.

With the game on the line in the fourth quarter, however, Maiava came through when it mattered most. With the Trojans leading 21-20 with a little over 10 minutes left, Maiava led USC on a 13-play, 84-yard touchdown drive that ate up 7:39 of clock. Ultimately, that insurance proved to be enough, as the Trojans held on for a 28-20 victory.

Overall, outside of the two turnovers, Maiava played fairly well. While there is certainly a lot that needs to be cleaned up, Maiava and the Trojans will look to build off the performance heading into next week’s rivalry matchup against UCLA.

Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, Ducks Wire, UW Huskies Wire and UCLA Wire.

USC QB coach Luke Huard visits notable recruit Friday night

If Julian Lewis bolts for Indiana or Colorado, getting Husan Longstreet to flip from Texas A&M could prove to be very crucial for USC.

On Friday evening, Jarrett Perez of 247Sports reported that USC football quarterbacks coach Luke Huard was in attendance at Corona Centennial High School, checking out five-star quarterback Husan Longstreet.

Per On3 Consensus’s rankings, Longstreet is the number 23 overall player in the Class of 2025. He is also the number four quarterback and the number two player in the state of California.

Longstreet is currently committed to Texas A&M. Over the past few weeks, however, rumors have begun to fly that he could potentially flip his commitment to USC.

The Trojans have had five-star 2025 quarterback Julian Lewis committed since last year. However, Lewis has taken numerous visits to other schools even after committing to USC, and the general vibe is that there is a good chance he winds up elsewhere.

USC’s quarterback situation for next year is still very much up in the air. The Trojans have just two quarterbacks on their 2024 roster who have thrown a pass at the FBS level: Miller Moss and Jayden Maiava. However, there is a good chance that at least one of the two will transfer this offseason, if not both.

While it will depend on how the last three games go with Maiava replacing Moss as the starter, it is likely that USC will be looking for at least one quarterback in the transfer portal this offseason. While the odds of a true freshman coming in and winning the starting job right away are slim, it is certainly not an impossible scenario given USC’s current status at the position.

College football’s early signing period for high school recruits begins on December 4, less than three weeks away.

Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, Ducks Wire, UW Huskies Wire and UCLA Wire.

A look back at Nebraska’s last visit to the Los Angeles Coliseum

The USC-Nebraska game played in 2006 marked a Trojan quarterback’s home debut. Jayden Maiava makes his first home start for USC, 18 years later.

On Saturday, USC will host Nebraska at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. This will mark the first meeting between the Trojans and the Cornhuskers as Big Ten opponents. USC and Nebraska have met just five times prior, with the Trojans holding a record of 4-0-1 in those games.

Nebraska has visited the Coliseum just twice. The most recent of those visits came in September of 2006.

The days leading into the game were turbulent ones at USC. The week prior, the Trojans had gone into the heart of SEC country and opened the season with a 50-14 throttling of Arkansas. Head coach Pete Carroll’s team returned home to the Coliseum for their first home games of the post-Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush era. Both Leinart and Bush’s jerseys were officially retired prior to the game against the Cornhuskers.

During the lead-up to the game, however, reports began to surface that Bush had received improper benefits from an agent during his time at USC. As we all know, this would eventually lead to a mutli-year NCAA investigation that resulted in USC receiving incredibly harsh sanctions that would hold the program down for the better part of a decade.

As for the game itself, it was not particularly close. Although Nebraska scored first on an early field goal, the Trojans then went on a 21-0 run to largely put the game out of reach by the third quarter. When the clock hit zero, Pete Carroll’s team had a 28-10 victory to improve to 2-0 on the season.

The star of the show was Leinart’s replacement, new starting quarterback John David Booty. Making his second college start—and first in the Coliseum—Booty completed 25 of 36 passes for 257 yards and three touchdowns. Star wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett was also superb, catching 11 passes for 136 yards and two touchdowns.

Ironically enough, this Saturday’s matchup will also feature a USC quarterback making his first start in the Coliseum. The Trojans are hoping that Jayden Maiava can channel a little Booty magic of yesteryear and lead the team to a victory over Nebraska.

Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, Ducks Wire, UW Huskies Wire and UCLA Wire.

The big loser in USC football’s quarterback change? Eric Musselman

Eric Musselman and USC are 2-0, but the football team was still the big story of the week due to its QB change. It’s a reminder about what gets the headlines.

Monday night at USC basketball was supposed to be all about Eric Musselman. Coaching his first game in charge of the USC men’s basketball program, the “Muss Bus” impressed in his debut. The Trojans dominated UT Chattanooga in a wire-to-wire 77-51 victory. Unfortunately for Musselman, however, he only had the spotlight for barely an hour after the game ended. That was because around 10 p.m. local time on Monday night in Los Angeles, it was reported that the football team was making a change at quarterback, and turning to Jayden Maiava to start against Nebraska.

Suddenly, Musselman and the basketball team were pushed to the back page. With the attention of USC fans naturally turning toward the big football news, they quickly forgot about the impressive performance from Musselman’s team in a game they had just watched.

Oh, and to top it all off, there was an election the next day — that was kind of important.

Fortunately for Musselman, Monday was only the first game of a long season. He and his team will have plenty of other opportunities to play their way back into the spotlight. USC beat Idaho State on Thursday in a game which was not on national television. It’s just as well: USC didn’t play particularly well. Yet, the Trojans are 2-0 and are trying to build something special under Musselman.

For the time being, however, being pushed aside by football in the news cycle must have been at least a little bit frustrating for the new head coach.

Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, Ducks Wire, UW Huskies Wire and UCLA Wire.

Timing was important in USC quarterback change

One reason for this USC quarterback switch from Miller Moss to Jayden Maiava really stands out. It reinforces why this was the right time to make the move.

On Monday night, it was reported that USC will be making a change at quarterback. After redshirt junior starter Miller Moss struggled in a loss at Washington, the Trojans will turn to redshirt sophomore UNLV transfer Jayden Maiava when they take on Nebraska.

While segments of the fan base had been calling on head coach Lincoln Riley to make a quarterback change for several weeks prior, the timing was seemingly challenging. After Moss had an up-and-down day in a loss at Maryland, the Trojans had a short week, returning to the field just five days later against Rutgers.

Against the Scarlet Knights, Moss played well, completing 20 of 28 passes for 308 yards and two touchdowns. It was enough to silence the doubters for at least a week. On the road in Seattle, however, he threw three interceptions in a 26-21 loss, once again raising questions about his future as the starter.

There is no good time to make an in-season quarterback change, but with the Trojans having a break this upcoming week, it is about the least bad timing they could ask for. Maiava will have a full two weeks of practice before his first start in Cardinal and Gold.

Further, USC will not leave Los Angeles County again this regular season. The Trojans will play two of their final three games at home, with the one “road” game coming against crosstown rival UCLA at the Rose Bowl. Hence, Maiava will not be thrown into any truly hostile environments the rest of the year.

It is obviously a tough break for Moss, who opened the season by leading the Trojans to a signature victory over LSU and had been having a solid season overall. Yet, with USC sitting at 4-5, Riley desperately needed to switch something up in order to potentially make a bowl game and salvage something out of what has been a lost season.

Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, Ducks Wire, UW Huskies Wire and UCLA Wire.

National columnist says Miller Moss is taking the fall for Lincoln Riley at USC

Miller Moss is not the problem with the USC Trojans’ struggles, rather Lincoln Riley is covering up his own failure.

After starting the season 3-1 and moving up to No. 11 in the AP Poll, the USC Trojans plummeted with losses to Minnesota, Penn State, and Maryland. The Trojans are just 1-3 in their last four games, but the weight of the struggle seems to have fallen on the wrong shoulders.

It was announced earlier this week that quarterback Miller Moss lost the starting job to transfer Jayden Maiava, but Moss and the offense are not entirely the problem. The Trojans have scored 21 or more points in eight of their nine games this season while scoring 28 or more in three of their last four.

This season, Moss has a 64.3% completion rate with 18 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. Four players — Woody Marks, Makai Lemon, Zachariah Branch, and Ja’Kobi Lane — all have 32 or more receptions, while Lane (5) and Lemon (3) are amongst the teams’ top TD targets.

The Trojans rank fifth in points scored this season in the Big Ten behind Iowa, Ohio State, Oregon, and Indiana.

While the offense surely has room to improve, it is clearly still performing at high levels, which begs the question: Is Lincoln Riley just using Miller Moss as a scapegoat to cover up his atrocity of a season?

College football columnist Patrick Conn of College Sports Wire makes a good point when he notes that the quarterback is far from the only reason USC has struggled in 2024. This is not a one-man problem:

Moss didn’t play particularly well in their last game against the Washington Huskies, turning the ball over with three interceptions. Moss doesn’t have terrible numbers by any stretch but this feels like someone having to take the fall. Maiava could provide a spark for this team but even when the quarterback play has been good, this team has found ways to lose.

USC has lost as a team this year, meaning that in the games USC lost, the blame generally couldn’t be placed on any one player or position group. Some position groups have been more disappointing than others, but a little bit of everything has gone wrong in these games. To an extent, the move to Jayden Maiava might be Lincoln Riley’s way of hoping that the other USC players will step up to help their quarterback.

Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, Ducks Wire, UW Huskies Wire and UCLA Wire.

Lincoln Riley benches Miller Moss as Jayden Maiava gets the start vs Nebraska

Quarterback Jayden Maiava will start for the Trojans in their upcoming matchup against Nebraska, replacing Miller Moss.

Here’s a big story in the world of USC football: It has been confirmed that Jayden Maiava will be promoted to starting quraterback when USC faces Nebraska in two weeks. Lincoln Riley benching Miller Moss is a decision that comes with some questions.

An obvious first question is this: Why are the Trojans allowing Nebraska two weeks’ notice to game-plan for the change?

Miller Moss and Maiava have different play styles, so releasing this news so early gives an unnecessary advantage to Nebraska in being able to plan for the change.

In terms of head coach Lincoln Riley, it seems as though this move can only negatively impact him.

If Maiava can turn around the team and his promotion to starter is positive, we will be forced to ask why Riley waited so long to make the change.

If the change is for the worse, Trojan fans will feel further confirmation that Riley needs to go and does not have what it takes to turn this program around.

One thing is clear: At least this team is trying. At least the coaching staff has not thrown in the towel, even though the season has not gone the way anybody hoped. Whether Maiava will be a positive change is yet to be seen, but developing the sophomore transfer against a beatable Nebraska team is something that should get fans excited.

USC announces who won its starting quarterback battle

The Trojans have selected their starting quarterback

Like many schools across the country, USC had a battle to determine who its starting 2024 quarterback is.

Unlike, Notre Dame, the Trojans didn’t enter fall practices with a clear frontrunner, and on Tuesday they named [autotag]Miller Moss[/autotag] as the starter. He beat out [autotag]Jayden Maiava[/autotag], as head coach Lincoln Riley said that he was the more consistent of the two.

Moss had played sparingly in his first three seasons at USC, but did put up a very impressive performance against Louisville in the Holiday Bowl. He threw for 6 touchdowns to just one interception, accounting for 372 passing yards.

The Irish will travel to Los Angeles to conclude its regular season on November 30th, and there is plenty that could change between now and then.

Clearly we will continue to monitor what is happening with the USC program, as one of Notre Dame’s biggest rivals, it’s a normal practice to keep an eye on them.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (Formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Mike on X: @MikeFChen

Miller Moss heads into summer with more work to do at USC

If you were to compare Miller Moss to a starting NFL QB, who would it be?

Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Caleb Williams went No. 1 to the Chicago Bears in the 2024 NFL draft. He will likely be replaced as the USC starting quarterback by Miller Moss, who has been waiting in the wings for the past few years under Lincoln Riley and watching his offense from the sidelines. The situation encompassing Moss and Jayden Maiava is a point of considerable interest at USC heading into the summer.

USC junior quarterback Miller Moss led the Trojans to a win over Louisville in the Holiday Bowl. Moss went 23 for 33 passing for 372 yards and a school-record six touchdowns in a bowl game.

The season ended well for USC but was a major disappointment overall with an 8-5 record, including losses to rivals UCLA and Notre Dame.

For a brief period of time in December, USC was projected to bring in former Kansas State quarterback Will Howard, who ended up at Ohio State as the starter this incoming season.

“I think Lincoln really wanted to see me play (in the Holiday Bowl) and then was going to make a decision,” Moss said, “because I think he wanted to see if what happened in the game confirmed his practice evaluation.”

Jayden Maiava was added by USC as competition for Moss. He committed to USC over Georgia in a drama filled offseason. The Honolulu native, last season at UNLV, threw for 3,085 yards and 17 touchdowns with 10 interceptions while also rushing for 277 yards and three touchdowns.

After the way Miller played in the bowl game,” Riley said, “we felt extremely confident in him, and we really felt like there was not much of a need to really pursue anybody that was older,” . “We’re going to let those two guys duke it out.”

Maiava has some Drew Lock to his game with his 6-4, 220-pound frame and arm strength, but he needs to work on his intermediate game and accuracy.

Moss has physical limitations. He’s lighter, shorter, doesn’t have a cannon for an arm, and lacks high upside, but he reminds me a lot of Brock Purdy in terms of what he can do in the passing game and with his legs when needed.

Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, and Ducks Wire. Follow our newest sites, UW Huskies Wire and UCLA Wire.

Check out more NFL draft coverage with the USA TODAY Sports NFL Draft Hub.