It’s a wild arm, a wondrous arm, a successful arm.
However is it highly effective sufficient to revive a popularity?
It’s a stalwart presence, a swaggering presence, a saving presence.
However is it highly effective sufficient to rescue a coach?
Jayden Maiava introduced quarterback chills again to the Coliseum on Saturday afternoon in main USC to a 28-20 victory over underwhelming Nebraska.
However can he take the warmth off Lincoln Riley?
Maiava is sweet. He’s three landing passes good. He’s one dashing landing good. He’s lead-the-team-on-a-fourth-quarter-clinching-drive good.
However is he ok to settle the bottom beneath Riley’s unsure footsteps?
That was the bigger query looming over the Trojans as they pulled off a bowl-saving victory on a sunny afternoon when a brand new quarterback and new resilience confirmed up for a similar previous coach.
Is it too little, too late?
The 5-5 Trojans must beat both UCLA or Notre Dame to qualify for a bowl and a few semblance of stability as they end Riley’s third season.
No, Riley will not be getting fired, not even after going 7-10 in his final 17 video games and failing for the third time in three years to qualify for the Faculty Soccer Playoff.
At this second, it prices an excessive amount of to can him, as a lot as $60 million by one estimate. However a 3rd consecutive poor end mixed with the arrival of a brand new college president might imply that if the Trojans don’t make substantial enhancements subsequent season, eradicating him turns into priceless.
Meaning yet one more unhealthy season could be his final season, which implies he would turn out to be a lame duck.
And the Trojans don’t want essentially the most celebrated soccer teaching rent of their historical past to turn out to be a lame duck.
Transfers don’t flock to lame geese. Donors don’t pony up for lame geese. Followers flip their backs on lame geese.
Despite the fact that he’s not getting fired, Riley wants to teach these final two regular-season video games and probably a bowl sport like he’s teaching for his USC life.
And so, 11 days in the past, he shed Miller Moss and buckled into a private flotation machine named Jayden Maiava.
USC quarterback Jayden Maiava runs with the ball in the course of the second half Saturday in opposition to Nebraska on the Coliseum.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Instances)
Riley is aware of what he’s doing. All of USC is aware of what he’s doing. Riley wants this to work. The whole Trojans household wants this to work.
The environment on the Coliseum on Saturday was lukewarm at finest, a hole homecoming, a great deal of nice Nebraska followers usually making extra noise than their Trojans seatmates.
For a pleasing afternoon sport within the coronary heart of November, this was not a Pete Carroll crowd, it was a Clay Helton crowd, and that simply gained’t do.
It looks like some within the Trojans household have already got given up on Riley, and those that are undecided are ready to see how this season ends.
Yeah, it’s fairly obvious, Riley’s future is now inexorably tied to Maiava.
And, wouldn’t you understand it, lower than six minutes into the sport, the child threw a pick-six, former Trojan Ceyair Wright taking a wild throw 45 yards within the different route and knocking the Trojans flat.
“Sometimes deals like that, especially at home, can take the air out of your sails a little bit,” Riley mentioned.
However no, not on at the present time, not with this quarterback.
“The team didn’t even flinch,” Riley mentioned, and neither did Maiava, who adopted his sluggish begin with a stretch of 9 consecutive completions for 100 yards and two touchdowns en path to a 25-for-35 afternoon for 259 yards and plenty of gasps.
The child takes probabilities. He throws up what seems like a leap ball till you understand the go truly is directed to a leaping receiver. One such no-no-yes go was a 28-yard hurl to Duce Robinson to arrange the Trojans’ first landing.
Mentioned Maiava: “I saw Duce when I got flushed out the pocket. I tried to give him a ball that was his ball or nobody’s ball.”
Mentioned Robinson: “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again — he’s a playmaker. When you have an arm like that, of course you’re gonna have confidence in it.”
Maiava throws over bother, round bother, and generally instantly by bother. Two of his largest completions — a 12-yard landing go to Kyron Hudson and a nine-yard go to Makai Lemon on their clinching drive — had been balls that bounced off Nebraska helmets.
And Maiava simply stored flinging.
USC quarterback Jayden Maiava passes in entrance of Nebraska linebacker John Bullock in the course of the second half of the Trojans’ 28-20 win Saturday on the Coliseum.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Instances)
“That’s just who he is,” linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold mentioned. “He’s going to take risks. Some go his way, some don’t. That’s just kind of why I think he’s a great player. He’s willing to take those risks over and over again, regardless of the play before.”
Maiava actually has that aura. He strode into the postgame press convention room with a straightforward smile whereas providing the kind of what’s-up greeting that one doesn’t usually get from nervous younger quarterbacks.
“I’ve got a great team, a great coaching staff, there’s nothing for me to worry about, but just to go out there and play ball with them,” he mentioned.
He not solely passes with abandon, he runs the identical approach. His rambling fashion induced an unforced misplaced fumble that led to a Nebraska discipline objective, however he additionally deftly dealt with a fourth-down pitch to Woody Marks that went for 34 yards and led to Maiava’s two-yard, clinching landing run.
“Coach Riley was in his bag,” Maiava mentioned. “Regardless, I think we were gonna get the first.”
Riley certainly referred to as an incredible play there, and Trojans followers hope his sideline work will probably be simply as impressed now that he has a brand new chief.
“He did a good job staying in the moment,” Riley mentioned of Maiava. “He gave guys opportunities to make plays … It showed some poise … I thought he handled it well.”
Riley appears properly conscious of the significance of those last video games. He certainly is aware of a lot of his program’s future will probably be decided proper now.
“We talked to them a lot about this three-game stretch here at the end and what an opportunity it is for us,” he mentioned. “And we got it started off on the right foot today.”
Again in August, this area introduced the question that was foremost within the thoughts of the more and more uneasy Trojans household.
“Can Lincoln Riley coach?” I wrote. “That is the question that will hover over the program from the Sept. 1 Louisiana State opener through the completion of USC’s first Big Ten season.”
For some, the query has been answered, and it’s a resounding no.
However for others, the query continues to be there, nonetheless hovering, endlessly, ominously, maybe reliant on these final two or three video games.
So, Jayden Maiava, welcome to Lincoln Riley’s courageous new USC soccer world.
Now put it aside.
