Tag: Miller Moss

Miller Moss publicly thanks Caleb Williams for helping him develop at USC

Miller Moss set the record straight: Caleb Williams was a good teammate at USC.

The Caleb Williams era officially ended at USC earlier this week when the quarterback officially declared for the 2024 NFL draft, but that was a mere formality. A more interesting story is how various people of note reacted to the decision.

One person’s reaction is highly newsworthy: Miller Moss.

The backup quarterback knew, heading into both 2022 and 2023 at USC, that he would not be the starter unless a game was a blowout or Caleb got hurt. Miller Moss sacrificed multiple years of playing time in order to learn from the best — not only Caleb, but also Lincoln Riley as well.

Miller Moss finally got his chance in the Holiday Bowl last month. Caleb Williams was on the sideline, cheering on Moss and his other teammates. Caleb easily could have flown the coup and not bothered to show up one last time, but that’s not the kind of teammate he is.

Miller Moss publicly thanked Caleb for his support and guidance these past two years. That should put to rest a lot of conspiracy theories about Caleb not being a good teammate and USC players not trying hard for Caleb because they somehow didn’t like him.

Caleb Williams was — and is — a great teammate and Trojan. Miller Moss just said as much to the whole world. That’s a very important thing to establish heading into the offseason and the NFL draft.

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USC fans are thrilled to have Jayden Maiava as the backup QB to Miller Moss

USC filled a position of need and likely found its quarterback for 2025. Trojan fans are excited — they should be!

The USC Trojans struck out on a number of quarterbacks in the transfer portal and saw Malachi Nelson leave to go to Boise State.

Then, UNLV transfer Jayden Maiava committed to Georgia, and everything looked lost at the position for USC.

That is, until Tuesday night when reports surfaced that Maiava had flipped to USC in a stunning turn of events.

All of a sudden, Maiava goes from Georgia to USC, and now Lincoln Riley has a backup quarterback behind Miller Moss. He could also turn this into a competition alongside Moss, but the ideal scenario is to have Moss lead the offense in 2024 and have Maiava ready to take over in 2025.

USC fans couldn’t believe it, especially after Maiava had just announced his decision to go to the Georgia Bulldogs.

Let’s look at some of these reactions:

National analysts noticed how well Miller Moss played in the Holiday Bowl

Over a week after his Holiday Bowl masterpiece, Miller Moss is still getting praise from national analysts.

The USC Trojans stunned the world by defeating Louisville in the Holiday Bowl despite being without a number of stars.

The biggest surprise of them all was the six-touchdown performance by Miller Moss. After Malachi Nelson entered the transfer portal, there are indications that Moss could be the guy in 2024.

In an ESPN piece that discussed some bowl tidbits, Blake Baumgartner mentioned that Moss could very well be the guy in 2024:

“Does Lincoln Riley now have Caleb Williams’ successor in-house with redshirt sophomore Miller Moss? Moss deserves a long, hard look after throwing for 372 passing yards and a Holiday Bowl-record six touchdown passes in the 42-28 victory over Louisville. With Malachi Nelson (No. 1 overall in the 2023 ESPN 300) in the transfer portal, a need to overhaul the defense and the program moving to the Big Ten, USC has plenty to do before opening the 2024 season against LSU in Las Vegas. One spectacular start in San Diego for the inexperienced Moss (914 passing yards and nine TD passes in eight career games over three seasons) could very well lead to the long-term answer USC needs at the game’s most important position.”

The Trojans have missed out on a number of quarterbacks in the portal, with the latest being Kansas State transfer Will Howard, who just decided to join Ohio State.

Nonetheless, Moss returning and being the starter in 2024 is generating buzz after a historic Holiday Bowl outing.

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Will Howard vs Miller Moss is the QB comparison which will dominate 2024 at USC

Howard versus Moss is going to be the talk of the city in Los Angeles and, for that matter, Columbus.

The USC Trojans, in early December, were considering Will Howard as their 2024 starting quarterback. Lincoln Riley visited Howard. Later in the month, Howard paid a visit to USC. Interest was considerable, but a final commitment never occurred.

Riley and Howard likely stated their positions in their talks, though neither party has disclosed exactly what has been said. Riley likely told Howard what he wanted from his 2024 USC offense. Howard likely asked Riley if a transfer to USC would mean guaranteed QB1 status, or if Howard would have to battle Miller Moss for that role.

Riley likely told Howard to wait until after the Holiday Bowl, in which Moss was going to play the whole game. Then USC and Riley would have a much better idea of where they wanted to go at quarterback in 2024.

We all saw what happened. Moss dominated the game and established himself as the QB1 for USC. Howard had to have known he was out of the picture in Los Angeles.

He then transferred to Ohio State, as noted by Buckeyes Wire.

Howard versus Moss — the quarterback USC almost got versus the quarterback USC will have — will dominate the conversation at USC (and Ohio State) in the offseason, continuing into September and the start of the 2024 campaign. We will see how these journeys affect USC, Ohio State, and the balance of power in the 2024 Big Ten.

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USC learned from the Caleb Williams experience and helped Miller Moss as a result

Instead of trusting Caleb Williams would make a play, USC players trusted the system and made sure Miller Moss had help.

We’re not going to spend an endless amount of time comparing Caleb Williams and Miller Moss, but there is one last thing to say about the two quarterbacks and how USC responded to each of them in 2023. This is not a criticism of Caleb Williams, merely a reflection of the different dynamic he seemed to create among his USC teammates.

Caleb Williams is such a brilliant, improvisational, magician-like player that it is easy for a bunch of 10 teammates to view him as the guy who can rescue every play. Caleb can elude several defensive linemen with his special pocket presence and get out of trouble. Caleb can make things happen. He can turn broken plays into big plays. He can bail out others for their mistakes. When a player with Caleb’s gifts is running the show, it is easy for teammates — simply as a reflection of human nature — to think that the superstar quarterback can do it all.

As a result, teammates lose a small but important level of attention to detail. They don’t play with the precision or total focus they need to be at their very best. The offense suffers.

With Miller Moss playing in the Holiday Bowl, his 10 USC teammates on offense entered the game with no such complacency. They didn’t view Moss as a superstar quarterback. They knew they needed to help Moss and be there for him in order for the offense to function. Guys rallied around Moss and played extremely hard for him, knowing they needed to put Moss in the best possible position to make plays.

The receivers got open more quickly for Moss. They knew that they couldn’t assume Moss would buy time in the pocket the way Caleb so often did. They knew they had to beat their man and give Moss a clear target to throw to.

Offensive linemen blocked better for Moss. They knew they had to give Moss enough time, since his level of “escapability” is nowhere close to what Caleb possesses.

Ten guys played really hard for their quarterback because they knew Miller Moss needed the help and support. Caleb Williams, a superstar, was often viewed as the guy who could make everything right. His teammates were bystanders at times, instead of playing with the urgency needed to maximize the offense. Human nature — an understandable part of sports — is what limited USC’s offense in the regular season. When Miller Moss played in the Holiday Bowl, human nature — the desire to help a less experienced teammate — helped the Trojans become their best selves.

Hopefully, every Trojan offensive player learned something very important from all of this.

We talked more about this at The Voice of College Football:

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The main difference between Caleb Williams and Miller Moss had nothing to do with the men themselves

Miller Moss wasn’t a better QB than Caleb. The big difference had to do with the 10 teammates surrounding them.

The aftermath of the Holiday Bowl has been fascinating. Football analysts and a subsection of USC fans are speaking as though Caleb Williams was holding USC back this season. That’s ridiculous.

What’s not ridiculous is that Miller Moss did certain things in the Holiday Bowl which Caleb Williams did not do enough in 2023. We can admit that.

Moss got throws out quickly. He didn’t force USC offensive linemen to hold their blocks longer. Moss ran Lincoln Riley’s offense efficiently. When we say “efficiently,” we mean that Moss was content to make quick decisions, even if it meant going to the checkdown or throwing the ball away.

Caleb Williams wanted to make the big play a little too often. He would wait for plays to develop in the hope of finding the big strike, and that caused some — not necessarily most, but certainly some — of the sacks and pressures which thwarted USC drives and got the Trojans behind schedule.

Moss did certain things Caleb didn’t do often enough. That’s true.

What’s not true is that Caleb held this offense back.

The big difference between the USC offense under Caleb Williams and the USC offense under Miller Moss is that under Moss, all 10 teammates did their jobs extremely well. The offensive line and wide receivers rallied around Moss. They did not give Caleb nearly the same amount of help.

Receivers got open quickly for Moss in ways we didn’t see with Caleb. It’s true that Caleb missed (and sometimes ignored) some shorter throws during the season, but receivers did not get open down the field the way they did for Moss in the Holiday Bowl.

The offensive line provided a level of pass protection for Moss which we didn’t often see for Caleb. Against Oregon, UCLA, and especially Notre Dame, the quality of pass blocking was nowhere near what Miller Moss got against Louisville.

If the Trojans played as hard for Caleb as they played for Miller Moss, USC would have won 10 games this year.

We discussed these points and more with Tim Prangley at The Voice of College Football:

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How Miller Moss’s huge game in the Holiday Bowl could change USC’s 2024 roster

We aren’t talking about the QB room here, more about other spots on the 2024 roster in relation to the portal.

The six-touchdown performance by Miller Moss in the Holiday Bowl helped USC win a game against an opponent which won 10 games in 2023. The effort by Moss sent USC into the offseason on a high note. Moss might have nailed down the starting quarterback spot on the 2024 team’s depth chart.

He might have done something else which could potentially help USC in a very big way.

If USC was to grab a quarterback in the transfer portal, one presumes that a significant NIL-based expense would be connected to that effort to land that quarterback, whether it is Will Howard, Cam Ward, or someone else.

After Moss’s performance, one could very reasonably say that USC no longer needs a starter-level quarterback. The Trojans probably could use a portal quarterback, but maybe they only need a backup-caliber athlete at this point.

That should translate into NIl savings USC can use for an offensive tackle or defensive lineman. That could really help the Trojans in the portal and on the recruiting trail. We will see what happens.

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Miller Moss’s Holiday Bowl performance is an all-timer in USC’s rich history

Miller Moss rose above several USC quarterbacks with his epic bowl performance against Louisville.

Miller Moss delivered a special and historic USC bowl performance this week. His six-touchdown display against Louisville in the Holiday Bowl is obviously one of the greatest bowl performances by a USC quarterback.

We can debate where Moss’s performance ranks, but we know it’s up there.

College Sports Wire’s Ryan Haley put together this collection of great and notable USC quarterback performances in bowl games:

“Since (Pete) Carroll’s departure in 2009, USC has still put together five 10-win seasons, still impressive for the average program. However, the time between Carroll and Lincoln Riley tends to be brushed aside for the All-Americans who came before and after, especially at the quarterback position. In the spirit of Miller Moss’s six-touchdown performance in the Holiday Bowl on Wednesday, here’s a trip down memory lane for USC’s bowl quarterbacks since 2010.”

We hope you enjoy the gallery. We would point out that Sam Darnold’s comeback in the 2017 Rose Bowl against Penn State is hard to top as the best USC quarterback bowl performance of all time.

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Miller Moss came close to tying a record set by college football legend Joe Burrow

Miller Moss and Joe Burrow in the same sentence? That says it all.

Miller Moss was great in the Holiday Bowl. How great? Check out this fact from Patrick Conn of College Sports Wire for some context:

“If there is one quarterback who set the standard for dominance in a bowl performance, it is former LSU gunslinger Joe Burrow.

“Against the Oklahoma Sooners in the 2019-20 Chick fil a Peach Bowl, he threw a record seven touchdowns as the Tigers punched their ticket to the CFP national championship. They would defeat Clemson to claim the school’s fourth national championship.”

We know that Miller Moss threw six touchdown passes for USC against Louisville, putting him just one touchdown pass behind Burrow. It is really rather remarkable to contemplate how well Moss played in his first college start. It is also noteworthy that when Moss played extensively against Stanford in Week 2 of the season back on September 9, he and the USC offense struggled, scoring just one touchdown in the second half against a bad opponent.

Moss and USC came a long way in the Holiday Bowl. It’s a real source of optimism for the road ahead.

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Gus Johnson dramatically rattled off Eminem lyrics to describe Miller Moss’ epic debut for USC

This song is actually older than Miller Moss!

Eminem is one of the greatest rappers ever, to be sure.

But when his career began in the 1990s, I don’t know if anyone thought he’d be so ubiquitous that we’d hear some of his lyrics just casually (and dramatically!) rattled off on college football broadcasts.

Yet, here we are. It’s 2023 and Gus Johnson is out here just giving us the lyrics to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” two decades after it was released. It’s a pretty wild world we’re living in.

Freshman quarterback Miller Moss debuted as USC’s starter in the DirecTV Holiday Bowl. He threw for six touchdowns, which is a record for the program.

His performance had Gus Johnson hyped enough to do this:

“Just looking at Miller Moss and what he’s done, I feel like I’m listening to Eminem. You only get one shot — do not miss your chance to blow. This opportunity comes once in a lifetime. First career start. Six touchdown passes.” 

That was weird…but oddly spot on. Shoutout to Gus for bringing a little bit of hip-hop to the broadcast.