Tag: Jayden Maiava

Will Howard didn’t come to USC, but he’ll forever be a Trojan hero

Will Howard prevented Notre Dame from winning the national championship. He helped USC after all.

13 months ago, it appeared highly likely that then-Kansas State quarterback Will Howard would transfer to USC. On3’s Pete Nakos even went as far as to log a USC prediction for Howard. With Caleb Williams off to the NFL, it appeared as though Lincoln Riley had found his quarterback for the 2024 season.

As we all know, however, plans can change in a heartbeat in college football. Williams opted out of the Holiday Bowl against Louisville, and backup Miller Moss lit up the Cardinals, throwing for 372 yards and six touchdowns. With Moss seemingly entrenching himself as the Trojans’ starter for 2024, Howard headed to Ohio State instead.

The move had a massive ripple effect, leaving fans wondering what might have been had things played out differently. While the Trojans struggled with Moss eventually losing the starting job towards the end of the season, Howard led the Buckeyes to the national championship.

But even though Howard never took a snap for the Trojans, he will always be a hero to USC fans. Because en route to the national title, he slayed three of the Trojans’ biggest foes.

Against Oregon in the Rose Bowl, Howard threw for 319 yards and three touchdowns in a 41-21 blowout win. The performance ensured that the Ducks’ remarkable run of having never won a national championship continued, much to the delight of USC fans.

In the Cotton Bowl, Howard threw for 289 yards and a touchdown, as the Buckeyes held off the Longhorns 28-14. Although it was not Howard’s best performance, it was enough to ensure that Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian—who had an ugly breakup with USC in 2015—did not win a title before the Trojans did.

Finally, in the national championship game, Howard and the Buckeyes went up against the Trojans’ greatest foe: Notre Dame. Behind Howard completing 17 of 21 passes for 231 yards and two touchdowns, Ohio State rolled to a 34-23 win, preventing the Irish from winning their first national championship since 1988.

Will Howard may have never even played a snap for USC. But he prevented three of their biggest foes from winning a national title. And for that, he will always be a Trojan hero.

Should USC have pursued Carson Beck in the transfer portal?

No one at USC should lose any sleep over not getting Carson Beck for 2025.

Entering the 2025 season, there are still some major questions surrounding the state of USC football’s quarterback room. This is why it certainly raised eyebrows, when, on Thursday, Georgia starting quarterback Carson Beck entered the transfer portal. Beck started the past two seasons for the Bulldogs, throwing for nearly 7,500 yards and 52 touchdowns and leading them to back-to-back SEC Championship Games.

Barely 24 hours later, however, Beck was off the market, as he committed to Miami on Friday.

With Beck headed elsewhere, however, it raises the question: Should Lincoln Riley and USC have pursued him in the portal?

USC’s QB room heading into spring practice consists of Jayden Maiava, Sam Huard, and Husan Longstreet. Maiava is currently considered the favorite to win the job, as he started the final four games of USC’s 2024 season, going 3-1. However, he should be pushed heavily by both Huard—a former five-star recruit who will be on his fourth different school in five years—and Longstreet—a five-star signee in the class of 2025.

While all three quarterbacks have upside, none have the proven track record of a guy like Beck, who has proven that he can play well against elite competition. So should USC have pursued Beck, then?

On the surface, Beck would be an upgrade over the guys that the Trojans currently have in their QB room. In today’s era of college football, however, it is hardly that simple. Landing Beck would have required a significant investment of NIL funds, which in turn would have meant less money to spend elsewhere.

Beck is a very good quarterback, but is he good enough to justify spending millions of dollars that could have otherwise gone towards upgrading other positions? That’s hard to say.

If Beck lights the world on fire at Miami and wins the Heisman/leads the Hurricanes to the playoff, then we will certainly question the decision by USC not to pursue him further. Given Riley’s success with quarterbacks and the numerous other holes on the Trojans’ roster, sitting this one out feels like a reasonable move on USC’s part.

Jayden Maiava transfer rumors heat up, creating intrigue for USC fans

Maiava to Miami and Mario Cristobal? Rumors are flying on social media.

Friday night was bad enough for USC football fans, who are suffering through a down period for the program and have endured brutally bad coaching by Lincoln Riley the past two seasons. Emmanuel Pregnon transferring is a big blow. USC’s NIL situation is not improving, at least in terms of retaining top talent. USC continues to be rocked by situations in which players profess to want to play for the Trojans, only to change their minds not much later. Could Jayden Maiava be next to leave?

Do a Twitter search, folks. Type in “Maiava Miami” and see how many USC fans, bloggers, podcasters, and outside observers are talking about this rumor. It’s just a rumor, but with USC not having a proven quarterback elsewhere in the room, it’s obviously a source of concern heading into the offseason. Husan Longstreet shows great promise, but he is only a freshman. Handing the keys to a young pup is not what Lincoln Riley wants in 2025.

College football commentator roasts Jayden Maiava’s bowl performance

Jayden Maiava’s bowl effort certainly failed to give USC fans confidence that the Trojans have a clear-cut QB1 for 2025. This will remain a talking point.

To say USC quarterback Jayden Maiava had a rocky performance in the Las Vegas Bowl would be a massive understatement.

The Trojans’ signal-caller completed 56.4% of his passes, and he made numerous really bad mistakes, including three costly interceptions. However, he stepped up his game late, leading multiple clutch touchdown drives, including the game-winner in the final minutes.

Despite his late improvements, however, Maiava’s performance drew criticism nationally, raising doubt whether he will be USC’s starting QB in 2025. One commentator offered harsh words about the performance on social media.

“Maiava experiment at USC been a massive failure,” said Liam Blutman of Barstool Sports, who also runs the popular “No Context College Football” Twitter account.

“Wish he stuck at UNLV. Instead he went to the school of Caleb Williams Cosplaying and it’s completely neutered his development. Way to go Lincoln!”

It should be noted that this was tweeted during the game, before Maiava led the fourth-quarter comeback. Even factoring that in, there was enough ugliness from his performance to give USC fans concern.

While it is possible that Lincoln Riley pursues a transfer QB this offseason to compete for the job, the most likely scenario is Maiava is USC’s starting QB heading into 2025. Given how his 2024 season ended, it is understandable how that might cause unease among the USC fan base.

Texas A&M coach Mike Elko could not stand losing to USC

Texas A&M coach Mike Elko completely roasted his team’s defense after USC shredded it in the second half of the Las Vegas Bowl. Ouch!

USC’s 35-31 victory over Texas A&M in the Las Vegas Bowl Friday night offered a comforting conclusion to what was otherwise a massively disappointing season for the Trojans. For Texas A&M, on the other hand, it marked a disappointing end to a season that once held a ton of promise. The Aggies entered the month of November at 7-1 and squarely in playoff contention. However, they dropped four of their final five games to finish the year 8-5. Following the game, A&M head coach Mike Elko vented his frustrations.

“The story of the game is the story of our season,” Elko said in his postgame press conference. “We can’t cover the forward pass well enough to be a good football team.”

Elko also said this when asked about why he is optimistic about the 2025 season: “I won’t have to watch this defense play like this ever again.”

The Aggies certainly struggled to keep the Trojans’ passing game in check. While A&M’s secondary did intercept USC quarterback Jayden Maiava three times, they also allowed him to throw for 295 yards and four touchdowns.

“I have a lot of apprehension when the other team’s gonna drop back and throw the ball,” Elko said.

Like USC, Texas A&M will now enter the offseason with several major questions. Both teams will look to improve on their 2024 campaigns and contend for conference titles in 2025.

D’Anton Lynn and USC defense never quit on the season or themselves

D’Anton Lynn had a shorthanded USC defense this season. He did the best he could with what he had. It’s up to Lincoln Riley to improve the offense in 2025.

On Friday night, USC wrapped up its 2024 season with a 35-31 victory over Texas A&M in the Las Vegas Bowl. In addition to the fact that it marked the last game of USC’s 2024 season, it marked the final game of D’Anton Lynn’s first year as the Trojans’ defensive coordinator. By all accounts, Lynn’s debut campaign was a major success.

After fielding the worst defense in school history in 2023, the Trojans made major progress on that front in 2024. USC held 10 of its 13 opponents to under 30 points, and seven of them to 24 or fewer. By comparison, last season, the Trojans allowed at least 34 points in their final eight regular season games, and only held one Power Five opponent to fewer than 28.

Friday was actually one of the less impressive performances by USC’s defense on the season. But the unit still did enough to keep the Trojans in the game, something that could certainly not be said about last year’s group.

Coming out of halftime, USC struggled defensively, allowing A&M to score 17 points on its first three drives of the second half. But the Trojans locked in after that, forcing two punts and holding the Aggies to a field goal, giving the offense a chance to get the team back in the game.

It should be noted, however, that the USC defense did allow a seven-play, 75-yard TD drive to give A&M the lead with under two minutes left. If not for Kyle Ford’s heroics, we would be having a very different conversation today.

Overall, though, the bowl game performance encapsulated USC’s 2024 season defensively. By no means were the Trojans elite, but for the most part, the unit did enough to keep the team in every game. After where USC was this time a year ago, that’s a major step in the right direction.

Jayden Maiava needs his bowl game to produce lots of information

Jayden Maiava has to make significant gains in understanding and knowledge in USC’s bowl game versus Texas A&M. It’s less about the numbers, more about the mind.

To say that the transfer portal has significantly affected college football would be a massive understatement. In today’s era, it is nearly impossible to predict who will be on a team’s roster from year to year. Hence, regardless of the circumstances, a team can never assume that a player will be coming back the following season. Hence, it was notable when USC quarterback Jayden Maiava revealed he will be back with the Trojans in 2025.

“This is the place to be,” Maiava told reporters when asked about his future following a bowl practice last week.

After transferring in from UNLV, Maiava started the final three games of the year for the Trojans. He finished the regular season completing 60.8% of his passes for 906 yards, seven touchdowns, and three interceptions, while also adding 49 yards and four scores on the ground.

Maiava’s return marks a breath of consistency for the Trojans. USC has already seen more than a dozen players enter the transfer portal since the conclusion of the regular season.

Maiava and the Trojans will conclude the 2024 season in the Las Vegas Bowl against Texas A&M on December 27. It will be important for Maiava to use this bowl game as a real education. Would it be great if Maiava excelled the way Miller Moss did in the 2023 Holiday Bowl? Sure it would. However, that game — as we saw in 2024 — didn’t guarantee that Moss would be an excellent quarterback. It’s more about learning, less about the stat line, for Maiava against Texas A&M. Maiava needs to grow into the leader USC will need him to be in 2025.

Lincoln Riley knows he needs to make the USC QB room better in 2025

Lincoln Riley is mapping out his plan for the 2025 quarterback room at USC, but the one thing which matters should be obvious to anyone paying attention.

USC football and Lincoln Riley are in an interesting spot at the quarterback position heading into 2025. Miller Moss, who started the first nine games of the season for the Trojans, announced his plans to enter the transfer portal earlier this week. With third stringer Jake Jensen also planning to transfer, USC has just one scholarship quarterback set to return next season: Jayden Maiava.

Maiava, who transferred to USC from UNLV ahead of the 2024 season, started the final three games of the regular season for the Trojans. He will presumably start USC’s bowl game as well, and will return as a redshirt junior next fall.

The Trojans also just signed Husan Longstreet, a five-star quarterback in the class of 2025. Longstreet will enroll a semester early at USC, and begin practicing with the Trojans leading up to the bowl game. He will look to compete for playing time as a true freshman in the fall.

With just two scholarship quarterbacks currently on the roster heading into the spring, USC will need to add depth at the position. On Wednesday, Riley confirmed that USC will look to add a player in the transfer portal at the position.

However, Riley also expressed confidence in the two quarterbacks currently on the roster. Based on the sound of his comments, it seems as though USC will look to add a depth piece at the position, rather than a high-profile commodity.

“We obviously have a ton of confidence in both [Maiava] and Husan,” Riley said. “We’re gonna put a lot of emphasis, a lot of reps, a lot of time into those two guys.”

While Maiava should seemingly be the front runner to win the job, USC’s quarterback competition will certainly be an interesting story to follow when spring practice rolls around.

USC can’t allow opponents to set school records in 2025

USC put multiple Notre Dame defenders in the school’s record books. Next year, other teams can’t fatten their historical achievements at USC’s expense.

USC football watched its two-game winning streak end in its final game of the regular season with a 49-35 loss against Notre Dame on Saturday while failing to cover as a 7.5-point home underdog. The year concluded on a fitting but frustrating sour note. Notre Dame set school records against USC. When a team is allowing its opponents to set records, that says a lot about the season USC had.

The Trojans went pound-for-pound against the No. 5 ranked Fighting Irish, being tied 21-21 up until midway through the third quarter. The offense then stalled and went down by two touchdowns by the end of the third, but started to mount a comeback with a 6-yard Ja’Kobi Lane touchdown to close the gap to 35-28.

It was at that point that quarterback Jayden Maiava fell apart dramatically, throwing back-to-back goal line pick sixes that happened to be two of the longest interception returns for touchdowns in Notre Dame history. A 99-yard pick six from cornerback Christian Gray, the fourth-longest in school history, was followed by a 100-yard pick six from safety Xavier Watts on the next possession, tied for the longest touchdown interception return in the Fighting Irish’s history.

The failure of the Trojans to execute late seemed to be a fitting end to their mishap of a season. They failed to take care of business and left many questions that will need to be answered by Lincoln Riley and company over the offseason.

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USC continued to find new ways to lose football games in 2024

USC was consistent in 2024 — consistent at finding different ways of allowing close games to slip away from its grasp.

Not much has gone according to plan for the 2024 USC football team. However, there is one thing that this year’s Trojans have actually been quite good at.

The 2024 USC Trojans are quite good at finding new ways to lose football games.

There was allowing a two-minute drill touchdown to a Michigan team with a running back at QB. There was the clock mismanagement at the end of regulation against Penn State and subsequently falling in overtime. There having a field goal that would have iced the game against Maryland blocked and the Terrapins instead driving down for the game-winning touchdown. There was the horrendous play calling on the goal line against Washington with a chance to take a late lead.

Saturday, there was throwing two pick sixes of 99 yards or more.

No, that is not a typo. With the Trojans trailing archrival Notre Dame by a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, quarterback Jayden Maiava was driving USC down the field for a potential tying score. However, a bad decision by Maiava led to his pass being picked off by Notre Dame’s Christian Gray, who ran it back 99 yards to give the Irish a 14-point lead.

With the Trojans in desperation mode, USC got the ball back, and Maiava drove them down the field once again. But the quarterback was pressured and forced into heaving up a bad throw, which was intercepted in the end zone by noted Trojan killer Xavier Watts. Sure enough, Watts ran the ball back more than 100 yards, icing a Notre Dame win and sending the Irish to the College Football Playoff.

For the Trojans, it was more of the same. Just when it was starting to look like USC might finally come through in a big moment, they found a new excruciating way to lose a football game.

The number of different ways that USC found to lose winnable games this season truly was remarkable. In an extremely disappointing season, you at least have to give the Trojans credit for that.

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