USC head coach Lincoln Riley yells to his team during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Nebraska, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) USC quarterback Jayden Maiava gets set to pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Nebraska, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) USC cornerback Jaylin Smith celeb rates after making a stop during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Nebraska, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) USC head coach Lincoln Riley, right, congratulates quarterback Jayden Maiava after Maiava ran the ball in for a touchdown during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Nebraska, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) USC quarterback Jayden Maiava, center, runs the ball in for a touchdown as Nebraska defensive back DeShon Singleton stands by during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) USC wide receiver Zachariah Branch, right, runs a pass while being chased by Nebraska defensive back Marques Buford Jr. during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) USC wide receiver Zachariah Branch, right, celebrates after coming up a few yards short of a touchdown as Nebraska defensive back Marques Buford Jr. walks away during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) USC running back Woody Marks, center, runs the ball during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Nebraska, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) USC defensive end Kameryn Fountain, left, celebrates with Desman Stephens II, center, and tight end Joey Olsen after the Trojans defeated Nebraska 28-20 in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Nebraska defensive lineman Ty Robinson, center, forces Southern California quarterback Jayden Maiava, left, to fumble the ball as defensive back DeShon Singleton watches during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. Nebraska recovered the ball. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Nebraska linebacker Mikai Gbayor, center, celebrates after recovering a fumble by Southern California quarterback Jayden Maiava that was forced by defensive lineman Ty Robinson, left, as wide receiver Kyron Hudson, right, looks on during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) USC defensive end Kameryn Fountain, center, celebrates after the Trojans defeated Nebraska 28-20 in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) USC head coach Lincoln Riley yells to his team during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Nebraska, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) USC quarterback Jayden Maiava, left, tries to get past Nebraska defensive back Ceyair Wright during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Nebraska defensive back Ceyair Wright, right, runs for a touchdown after intercepting as pass as USC wide receiver Kyron Hudson falls during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Nebraska defensive back Malcolm Hartzog Jr., right, is unable to intercept a pass intended for USC wide receiver Kyron Hudson during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) USC cornerback Greedy Vance Jr., center, intercepts a ball intended for Nebraska wide receiver Jahmal Banks, right, as cornerback DeCarlos Nicholson defends as time runs out in the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) USC cornerback Greedy Vance Jr., right, intercepts a ball intended for Nebraska wide receiver Jahmal Banks, center, as cornerback DeCarlos Nicholson defends as time runs out in the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Nebraska running back Emmett Johnson, left, runs in for a touchdown as USC cornerback Jaylin Smith, center, and linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold defend during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Nebraska running back Emmett Johnson, center, runs in for a touchdown as USC cornerback Jaylin Smith, left, and linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold defend during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) A USC fan watches during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Nebraska, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Nebraska running back Emmett Johnson gestures after scoring a touchdown during the first half of an NCAA college football game against USC, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola is sacked by USC defensive tackle Elijah Hughes during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) USC running back Quinten Joyner, left, is tackled by Nebraska defensive back Malcolm Hartzog Jr. during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) USC wide receiver Kyron Hudson, left, pulls in a pass for a touchdown as Nebraska defensive back Malcolm Hartzog Jr. defends during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Nebraska defensive back Malcolm Hartzog Jr. has a pass go through his hands before USC wide receiver Kyron Hudson catches it for a touchdown during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola passes during the first half of an NCAA college football game against USC on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola passes during the first half of an NCAA college football game against USC on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola passes during the first half of an NCAA college football game against USC on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) USC wide receiver Kyron Hudson, left, pulls in a pass for a touchdown as Nebraska defensive back Malcolm Hartzog Jr. defends during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Show Caption1 of 30USC head coach Lincoln Riley yells to his team during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Nebraska, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Expand LOS ANGELES — Nine plays in, USC football’s much-ballyhooed quarterback change had begun in disaster with an airmailed pick-six. Lincoln Riley rested his hand on his young quarterback’s shoulder pad on the sidelines and spoke in sweet reassurances. Trust your eyes. Go through your reads. Continue to execute.  All fine. All is well and good. Jayden Maiava needed no reassurances. Yes, he’d just made a grave mistake on the second drive of his first start as USC’s new starting quarterback. Yes, he’d been tossed into fire with Miller Moss’ benching and immediately had raked his program over the coals Saturday afternoon. But the kid had been a playmaker, from his earliest days on O’ahu to his earliest days in USC’s program, and there was an inherent degree of risk involved in his cannon arm and freewheeling legs. The reward came, quickly and often and plenty in the quarters to come, as Maiava wrestled sheer chaos to his will for the better part of a 28-20 USC win over Nebraska that validated Riley’s trust in him as these Trojans’ quarterback down the stretch. “I know he was excited, nervous, all of that for – his first opportunity to really play here at USC,” Riley said postgame, of Maiava. “I thought he handled it well, especially when you start off like that – that’s, like, the last thing that you want to happen.” “And his response, and the team’s response, was very key,” he added. Before he was a quarterback, the 6-foot-4 Maiava was a receiver on fields across O’ahu, playing in a youth league on the island coached by Tua Tagovailoa’s father Galu. And the same traits in him today, the former youth coach said, have been present since Maiava was running free across the ocean in middle school. “No matter how bad the play is, and when things are broken … just, you see Jayden trying to make something happen,” Galu Tagovailoa said. “And that’s just how that kid has been.” It’s how that kid was on Saturday, wholly unafraid even as he started 2-of-7 for 12 yards and an interception — to USC-turned-Nebraska transfer corner Ceyair Wright, no less — returned 46 yards for six to put USC in an early hole. He returned to the sideline, sophomore Duce Robinson recounted postgame and tapped his receivers on the shoulder. “That’s on me,” Maiava said. A minute and 30 seconds of game clock later, Maiava rolled on a third-and-seven and whizzed an 18-yard strike just past the fingertips of a Nebraska defender for a first down to senior Kyle Ford. “He’s gonna take risks,” linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold said, of Maiava, postgame. “And some go his way, some don’t, and that’s kind of why he’s gonna be such a great player.” “Because he’s willing to take those risks over and over again, regardless of the play before.” He took them, again and again on Saturday, to glory and pain. Four plays after the strike to Ford, he ran for his life away from Nebraska pressure and flung a desperation heave to Robinson — trying to throw a ball that was “either his ball or nobody else’s ball,” as Maiava put it — for a miraculous 28-yard completion. He hit Zachariah Branch for a short score to finish off the drive, hit Kyron Hudson on a bobbled-and-caught end-zone grab at the start of the second quarter, and bombed a 48-yard completion to a wide-open Robinson in the middle of the third. And then, with USC up 21-17 on Nebraska in the third quarter, he took a risk wholly too far, trying to evade a Nebraska pass-rusher back at his 26-yard line and getting strip-sacked in a potentially catastrophic play. When asked postgame if he felt he tried to do too much at times, the even-keel Maiava responded with an emphatic “no doubt,” a problem he affirmed he’d had to date back to his previous freshman season at UNLV. “That’s just me being me,” Maiava said. “I mean, obviously – it’s rough. But I’m glad that it happened to me, just so I learn from it.” USC’s defense, though, picked up the slack at every opportunity, in a tour-de-force performance from coordinator D’Anton Lynn and personnel. After a brilliant second-quarter pick, cornerback Jaylin Smith raised his hand to his helmet on the sidelines to mime an apparent shark fin, a gesture mimed throughout the night by his USC teammates. “I brought it to the offense, like, ‘We the shark gang,” Smith grinned postgame. “Shark gang.” To be more specific, as Smith explained: the act of swarming to the ball, on defense. And Smith and company swarmed, for the entire second half. Linebacker Mason Cobb came up with a massive third-down red-zone stop after the field flipped on Maiava’s fumble. Safety Kamari Ramsey, healthy after multiple absences, had another, preserving a one-point fourth-quarter lead after kicker Michael Lantz’s field goal was inexplicably blocked the previous possession. And on a subsequent drive chewing seven minutes of the clock across 13 plays, USC finally found the late-game offensive execution it’d been looking for all season. Facing a fourth-and-one from Nebraska’s 47-yard line, Riley dialed up a fake-jet-sweep-pitch to Woody Marks that the stalwart back took for 34 yards. Related Articles College Sports | Alexander: USC football stays alive for a bowl – but is that all there is? College Sports | USC football introduces throwback jerseys in rare move College Sports | USC’s Lincoln Riley and Nebraska’s Dana Holgorsen meet again with a few twists College Sports | USC football vs. Nebraska: Who has the edge? College Sports | USC QB Jayden Maiava is an ‘inspiration for the people of Hawaii’ “Coach Riley was in his bag,” Maiava said postgame, on the play. And with three minutes left and the ball at the 2-yard line, Maiava took a keeper and darted past a Nebraska defender, a born playmaker seizing his moment for the score that finally closed a game for USC. Maiava finished 25-of-35 for 259 yards, accounting for four total touchdowns and two turnovers. Marks eclipsed 1,000 yards on the season with a year-best 146-yard performance on the ground. Cornerback Greedy Vance Jr. picked off a last-gasp Nebraska try in the end zone as time expired — despite a missed pass-interference call — and handed the ball to athletic director Jen Cohen for the cherry on top.