Lincoln Riley evaluates Jayden Maiava against UCLA: 'He played a good game and he's going to keep getting better'
USC head coach Lincoln Riley joined the Trojans Live radio show on Monday evening and spoke a bit about the second start for quarterback Jayden Maiava for the Trojans.
Maiava moved to 2-0 with the comeback rivalry game win over the UCLA Bruins. He finished the game 19-for-35 for 221 yards and a touchdown through the air to go with four rushing attempts for -9 yards, which included 18 yards lost due to sacks.
“He played good,” Riley said of Maiava. “He played good the other night. I thought he was steady. I thought he stayed patient even when we didn’t make some plays around him that we should make. And I thought he never really got rattled. I thought he saw things well. I thought he was a lot steadier and more consistent than he was in the first start.”
Maiava was up and down through the game as far as completions go. He opened the game going just two-for-eight (though one completion was a 64-yarder to Makai Lemon. Maiava then completed nine of his next 11 attempts before missing on six of his next eight. He then ended the game on a positive run, with six completions including a touchdown over his final eight throws.
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“I thought he was a lot steadier and more consistent than he was in the first start, which is, I don’t think a surprise,” Riley said. “We felt like there would be an element to just settling in a little bit. And we felt that. He threw some great balls down the field. He gave our guys some chances to make plays that we need to make. He was patient, I thought, when he needed to be patient. There were a number of really good checkdowns that were really efficient plays for us. He played a good game and he’s going to keep getting better.”
Riley again said Maiava looked more settled and in control than he did in the win against Nebraska, in which he threw an early interception that was returned for a touchdown and lost a fumble at a critical point in the second half.
USC will need another big step forward from Maiava this week as the Trojans host the No. 5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Notre Dame has played a handful of deficient passing teams, but the Irish rank No. 3 in the nation in pass defense and have allowed just two opponents all year to throw for more than 200 yards.
