It’s a wild arm, a wonderful arm, a winning arm.
But is it powerful enough to restore a reputation?
It’s a badass presence, a swaggering presence, a saving presence.
But is it powerful enough to save a coach?
Jayden Maiava gave the quarterback chills at the Coliseum on Saturday afternoon by leading USC to a 28-20 win over disappointing Nebraska.
But can he take the heat off Lincoln Riley?
Maiava is good. He’s accounted for three touchdown passes. He’s a rushing touchdown good. He leads the team well on a clinching drive in the fourth quarter.
Read more: Jayden Maiava struggles and stars as USC beats Nebraska to revive bowl hopes
But is he good enough to put the foundation under Riley’s uncertain footsteps?
That was the bigger question looming over the Trojans as they pulled off a bowl-saving victory on a sunny afternoon when a new quarterback and new resilience showed up for the same old coach.
Is it too little, too late?
The 5-5 Trojans must beat UCLA or Notre Dame to qualify for a bowl and have some semblance of stability as they complete Riley’s third season.
No, Riley isn’t getting fired, even after going 7-10 in his last 17 games and failing to qualify for the College Football Playoff for the third time in three years.
At this point, it will cost too much to save him, as much as $60 million, according to one estimate. But a third consecutive poor performance, combined with the arrival of a new university president, could mean that if the Trojans don’t make substantial improvements next season, removing him becomes cost-prohibitive.
That means another bad season would be his last, meaning he would become a lame duck.
And the Trojans don’t need the most celebrated football coach in their history to become a lame duck.
Transfers don’t come en masse for lame ducks. Donors are not concerned with lame ducks. Fans turn their backs on lame ducks.
Even if he doesn’t get fired, Riley will have to coach these final two regular season games and possibly a bowl game, just as he coaches for his USC life.
And so, 11 days ago, he cast off Miller Moss and strapped on a personal flotation device named Jayden Maiava.
Riley knows what he’s doing. All of USC knows what he’s doing. Riley needs this to work. The entire Trojans family needs this to work.
The atmosphere at the Coliseum on Saturday was lukewarm at best, a hollow homecoming, with a lot of great Nebraska fans often making more noise than their Trojans seatmates.
For a fun afternoon game in mid-November, this wasn’t a Pete Carroll crowd, it was a Clay Helton crowd, and that just doesn’t cut it.
It feels like some in the Trojans family have already given up on Riley, and those who are still on the fence are waiting to see how this season ends.
Yeah, it’s pretty clear that Riley’s future is now inexorably tied to Maiava.
And, wouldn’t you know it, less than six minutes into the game, the kid threw a pick-six, with former Trojan Ceyair Wright making a wild throw 45 yards the other way and flattening the Trojans.
Read more: Jayden Maiava becomes the first Polynesian starting quarterback at USC
“Sometimes deals like that, especially at home, can kind of take the air out of your sails,” Riley said.
But no, not on this day, not with this quarterback.
“The team didn’t even flinch,” said Riley, and neither did Maiava, who followed up his slow start with nine straight completions for 100 yards and two touchdowns en route to an afternoon of 25-of-35 for 259 yards and plenty of panting.
The child takes risks. He throws what looks like a jump ball until you realize the pass is actually to a jumping receiver. One of those no-no-yes passes was a 28-yard throw to Duce Robinson to set up the Trojans’ first touchdown.
Maiava said: “I saw Duce when I was flushed out of the bag. I tried to give him a ball that was his ball, or nobody’s ball.”
Robinson said: “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: he’s a playmaker. If you have an arm like that, of course you will have confidence in it.”
Maiava throws problems overboard, sidesteps problems and sometimes straight through problems. Two of his biggest completions — a 12-yard touchdown pass to Kyron Hudson and a nine-yard pass to Makai Lemon on their clinching drive — were balls that bounced off Nebraska helmets.
And Maiava just kept throwing.
“That’s just who he is,” linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold said. ‘He’s going to take risks. Some go ahead, others don’t. That’s why I think he’s a great player. He’s willing to take those risks again and again, regardless of the game before it.”
Maiava certainly has that look. He walked into the postgame press conference room with an easy smile as he gave the kind of “how are you” greeting you don’t normally get from nervous young quarterbacks.
“I have a great team, a great coaching staff. I don’t have to worry about anything, just go out there and play with them,” he said.
Not only does he pass with abandon, he runs in the same direction. His erratic style caused an unforced lost fumble that led to a Nebraska field goal, but he also deftly handled a fourth-down throw to Woody Marks that went 34 yards and led to Maiava’s two-yard touchdown run.
“Coach Riley was in his bag,” Maiava said. “Anyway, I think we’d get the first one.”
Riley has indeed had a great stretch there, and Trojans fans are hoping his sideline work will be just as inspired now that he has a new leader.
“He did a good job of staying in the moment,” Riley said of Maiava. “He gave guys a chance to make plays… It showed some poise… I thought he handled it well.”
Read more: John Robinson, coach who led USC to national title and Rams to two championship games, dies at 89
Riley seems well aware of the importance of these final matches. He is certain that much of his program’s future will be determined now.
“We talked to them a lot here at the end about this three-game period and what an opportunity this is for us,” he said. “And we got off to a good start today.”
In August, this space presented the question that was most important in the minds of the increasingly uneasy Trojans family.
“Can Lincoln coach Riley?” I wrote. “That’s the question that will hang over the schedule from the opening of Louisiana State on September 1 through the completion of USC’s first Big Ten season.”
For some, the question has been answered, and it’s a resounding no.
But for others, the question is still there, still hovering, endlessly, ominously, perhaps depending on the last two or three games.
So, Jayden Maiava, welcome to the brave new USC football world of Lincoln Riley.
Save it now.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
