Lincoln Riley Reveals Thoughts on USC Trojans, Jayden Maiava in Missouri State Win

“I thought the guys handled game one well. It was good to see the group play complimentary football. We dominated in a lot of the big play categories on both sides of the football,” Riley said. “Played a pretty disciplined game, a pretty clean game. I thought we tackled pretty well.”

With USC jumping out to huge lead early, it gave Riley an opportunity to play more players that would not have entered the game otherwise. 

“It was a good start. To be able to play a lot of different guys on both sides of the ball,” Riley said. “I think the value for some of these guys getting their first real experience in the Coliseum, a lot of these guys first time playing football. Chance for us as a staff to evaluate all of these guys when you get them in that game atmosphere is great.”

The Trojans had five different running backs get carries and had 14 different players catch a pass. Nine different Trojans players scored a touchdown. 

USC also was able to get reps in for both quarterback Jayden Maiava and Husan Longstreet. Maiava started and played the first half, going 15/18 passing for 295 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions. The freshman Longstreet played the second half and was a perfect 9/9 passing for 69 yards and a touchdown. Longstreet added another 54 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns.

Lincoln Riley Praises Jayden Maiava

Lincoln Riley named Jayden Maiava the starting quarterback for the Trojans way back at Big Ten media days. Maiava started the final four games last season for USC. Riley was happy with how Maiava performed in the win over Missouri State.

“He played well. He was steady. He saw the field well. He really didn’t have a bad decision all day. Took care of the ball, made a lot of plays,” Riley said. “He did good job managing the group and he did a good of leading the group on the sideline; very vocal, very into it.”

Maiava now has an overall record of 4-1 as USC's starting quarterback dating back to last season. He has wins over Missouri State, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, UCLA Bruins, and Texas A&M Aggies. His lone loss was to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Next up for Maiava and the Trojans are the Georgia Southern Eagles on Saturday, Sep. 6. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. PT and will be broadcast on FS1.