The USC Trojans survived a challenging road game against Nebraska, handing them a 21-17 loss and their 29th loss against a ranked team. However, despite the win, Heisman favorite Jayden Maiava struggled to establish a consistent passing game, posting a completion percentage of 39.1%. The passing struggles held them scoreless for the first quarter, and they remained numb until a major fourth-quarter turnaround. Now, Lincoln Riley is right there pointing out his flaws.

Jayden Maiava didn’t have his best performance against Nebraska, but he pushed their fate to escape the loss. Maiava just completed nine of 23 passes for 135 yards with an interception. But his ability to hold the offense under pressure sealed the deal for them. And Lincoln Riley didn’t mince words before pointing it out on Trojans Live. “You know, he made a lot of winning decisions. He made a lot of plays. He was obviously very aggressive with his legs, which—it just became that type of game.”

Throughout this season, Maiava established himself as the authority at the QB position. With a 65.3% pass completion rate, to see him go below 40 is rare. And yes, Riley noticed it by saying, “We weren’t sharp in the throw game really at all, we dropped some passes, we missed some passes that we typically make. We had a couple of protection issues, and a couple of those came on plays where we had big-time opportunities, and so we just weren’t sharp enough against a good pass defense,” he said.

Now, for most of the Trojans, the passing attack was stagnant, as they had accumulated only 30 passing yards in three quarters, and by entering the 4th quarter, they had totaled 86 yards. But with Nebraska holding a 17-14 lead, Maiava rose to the moment, and on the next drive after an incompletion, he handed the biggest play, a flea flicker, to Bryan Jackson. He got it back and threw it to Jaden Richardson for a 43-yard completion. It turned out to be a bold call that turned out exactly as he had wanted.

Well, Maiava didn’t just hold Trojans with his arms but also made sure his legs did the work too. He rushed for a career-high 62 yards on 11 carries with one touchdown, including back-to-back 16-yard runs, which tied the game in the second half. His ability to extend plays and keep the drives alive even impressed Lincoln Riley, as he said, “But the ability for us to run the football and for him to impact the game the way he did running the ball—I thought he really settled in after the interception and played pretty darn good ball after that.”

With Jayden Maiava’s excellent run game, USC finished with 202 rushing yards, which is their 5th 200-yard game of the season, and what’s interesting is that this is one of their few games where the ground game outperformed the pass. But Lincoln Riley isn’t stressing over it.

As he said, “I’ve never cared a whole lot about how many times we run it or throw it. Honestly, I pay very little attention to it. Like at halftime, it’s one of the things I rarely look at. To me, it’s about how they’re playing us—are we challenging them, or are we doing things that can help us be effective? Run-pass balance isn’t irrelevant, but it’s overrated to me.”

With that development, another coaching job awaits him.

Lincoln Riley plotting a move in the future?

USC’s win against Nebraska gave Lincoln Riley a ray of hope. But the first quarter against the Huskers already started firing rants against him. Now, with a 6-2 record this season, Riley’s future squarely sits on how this season goes. On top of it, College Sports Wire’s Matt Zemek is putting his name on the available coaches list for a potential opening.

“USC will retain Riley for 2026, but maybe Lincoln thinks about an escape hatch with his USC tenure going nowhere. If USC does fail to make the College Football Playoff, an SEC athletic director should consider making a phone call to Los Angeles. Notable: Lincoln Riley’s agent is Trace Armstrong, a former Florida Gator football player who dangled the LSU job as a smokescreen in November of 2021 before Riley went to USC.”

For now, there’s no way Riley is leaving USC, as this season already looks better than last year’s 7-6 finish, and there’s a high chance he might even take them to the playoffs this season. Additionally, the 2026 recruiting class is approaching, which will aid him in selecting and developing players into superstars.

And the pressure of the Gators’ job has this move; it might not be ideal. Therefore, Riley’s stay at USC could extend further and probably help them win a championship in the future.