Lincoln Riley believes Jayden Maiava played with 'the heart of a champion' in Las Vegas Bowl

Jayden Maiava was the second quarterback for USC to make a start against an SEC team in Sin City this season. He then helped the Trojans close the season much like how they started with a win in the Las Vegas Bowl.

Lincoln Riley applauded the play of Maiava during a postgame press conference following a 35-31 win over Texas A&M. He appreciated how he responded for their team and, by the end of the game, took them to a season-ending bowl victory.

“He was just – he didn’t play his best there for a while, missed a few things he doesn’t normally miss but he stayed with it and that’s what you gotta do,” said Riley. “I mean, you’re not, you’re not always going to have your A-game. You play against a defense that’s as good as Texas A&M’s? You know, they’re going to make some plays too and you’ve got to keep fighting.”

“I think he showed, really, the heart of a champion in terms of just staying with it,” Riley stated. “That’s not an easy thing to do and he’s really hard on himself. You know, he just, he wants to do it so bad for the other guys on the team and on the roster that you appreciate that.”

Maiava was 22/39 (56.4%) in passing for 295 yards, four touchdowns, and three interceptions in the win over A&M. The picks came throughout with one in the first, third, and fourth quarters. However, again, Maiava kept at it as, after being down 24-7 to the Aggies in the middle of the third quarter, he led them on touchdown drives on four of their final five possessions, including the game-winning throw to a slant with just a dozen seconds left.

With that, Riley also wanted to give credit to Maiava’s teammates for helping them bring them all back too, including the defense who got stops on four of their final five possessions as well.

“Yeah, I would say I just love the things that I said about the team, really,” said Riley.

“His teammates, though, did a great job lifting him up,” Riley said. “I mean, just a couple of, a couple of big stops? You know, holding them to no points there after the interception out of the end zone. You know, it’s like the team just kept lifting him up and then he kind of caught fire there at the end and played really confident.”

Maiava played well at points as USC’s QB1 as the Trojans went 3-1 in their final four games with him starting. That then ended in their victory in Vegas where he was a part of the comeback win.

“Proud of the guys around him and certainly proud of the way Jayden responded,” said Riley.