Saturday’s USC-Oregon matchup at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum comes with plenty more than ranking implications. It also puts two quarterbacks with real NFL Draft buzz in the spotlight, and both Jayden Maiava and Dante Moore have a chance to reshape how scouts view them.
CBS Sports NFL Draft analyst Ryan Wilson has both quarterbacks projected as first-round picks, though Maiava’s route is the trickier one. Still, the setting is ideal for a statement performance, especially with No.
12 USC hosting No. 20 Oregon in a game that carries real early-season weight for both programs.
Maiava has been the more explosive quarterback so far. Through a light schedule, he has put together one of the nation’s most efficient stat lines, leading college football with 12 touchdown passes while topping 260 passing yards and two touchdowns in every game this season.
His numbers stack up well across the board: 293.3 yards per game, 10.2 yards per attempt, a 75.7% completion rate and a 136.4 NFL passer rating. He also owns a 0.9% interception rate.
That kind of production is a big leap from where Maiava started. He arrived at USC after a strong 2023 debut at UNLV, but there was no clear path to the job in Los Angeles with Miller Moss holding two years of eligibility and Husan Longstreet waiting in the wings. Maiava still found his way onto the field as a sophomore before taking over as the full-time starter as a junior.
The fit with Lincoln Riley has worked. Maiava threw for 3,711 yards and 24 touchdowns last season, and this year his touchdown rate has jumped to 10.4% of pass attempts, up from 6.0% a year ago.
It took some time for the receiver group to settle in after star freshman Trent Mosley was out, but Kayden Dixon-Wyatt and Corey Simms stepped up late. As that chemistry grows, the USC offense has more room to climb.
Maiava also already has a strong line against Oregon on his résumé. He threw for 306 yards and three touchdowns last season in USC’s 42-27 loss in Eugene. The question now is whether he can keep the ball away from the defense; he had six interceptions in five ranked matchups last season.
Moore’s return to school was one of the offseason’s bigger decisions. He passed on the NFL Draft and came back to Oregon even though he would have been almost certainly the No. 2 pick. The Detroit native said he wanted more time to grow in Eugene, but the early returns have been uneven.
Through three games, Moore has not played up to the standard attached to him. In Oregon’s stunning 39-31 loss to Oklahoma State, he completed only 48.3% of his throws for 191 yards and posted a 30.8% pressure-to-sack rate, a rough sign of how he handled pressure and the ball. He has been more efficient overall, completing more than 68% of his passes with nine touchdowns and no interceptions, but there are still stretches where he gets too cautious trying to avoid mistakes.
That tendency has shown up before. As a freshman at UCLA, Moore threw 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions, and in six games against ranked opponents after September last season, he finished with nine touchdowns and eight interceptions. At this point, he still has work to do to look like a steady top-tier draft prospect.
USC gives him a direct chance to reset that conversation. In last year’s win over the Trojans, Moore completed 73% of his passes for 257 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Another clean, productive showing would go a long way toward restoring momentum.
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