The 20th-ranked Ducks are heading back on the road Saturday, and USC brings enough firepower to make this one worth watching from the opening kick at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum at 4:30 PM.
Oregon has already lived through a little bit of everything this season: a closer-than-expected opener against Boise State, a road loss to Oklahoma State, and a record-setting win over Portland State last weekend. USC, meanwhile, is unbeaten through four games, with wins over San Jose State, Fresno State and Louisiana before taking a conference game at Rutgers most recently.
With kickoff approaching, here are five Trojans Oregon will need to have on its radar.
Jayden Maiava is the engine of the USC offense. Through four games, the quarterback has completed 87 of 115 passes for 1,173 yards, 12 touchdowns and one interception, while also carrying nine times for minus-2 yards.
His 2026 PFF grade sits at 90.1. No quarterback Oregon faced in 2025 threw for more yards than Maiava, who went for 306 and three touchdowns in the Ducks’ win, and he’s back at it again this year.
No passer in the country has more passing yards than Maiava, though he has played one more game than most. He opened the season by hitting 48 of his first 54 throws over the first two weeks, and while that pace has cooled a bit, he was still sharp in the win over Rutgers.
The biggest takeaway so far has been ball security: after tossing 10 interceptions last season, including two at Autzen, he has only one pick on 115 attempts. Most of his damage has come underneath, though five of his 12 touchdowns have come on deep throws, and USC’s offense has been a top-20 unit in both scoring and total offense.
The backfield runs through King Miller. The Trojans’ primary runner in 2025, Miller kept that job even after Waymond Jordan returned from the season-ending injury he suffered last October.
Through four games, Miller has played eight more snaps per game and has nearly doubled Jordan in carries. He’s been the more productive back, too, with a better yards-per-carry mark and a stronger PFF grade of 73.9.
Miller’s path is unusual for a USC featured back: he was a former walk-on from Calabasas, with offers from smaller G5 and FCS programs, redshirted in 2024, then climbed from the No. 2 job into the lead role last season. As a freshman, he topped 100 yards four times, and he already has two such games this year.
In last year’s meeting with Oregon, he was held to 30 yards on 15 carries. Duck fans should expect to see both Miller and Jordan this time around, and USC hasn’t had a third back matter much so far.
USC’s receiving corps has been powered by true freshmen, and Kayden Dixon-Wyatt is the one Oregon has to account for. He has 18 catches for 258 yards and two touchdowns, with a 74.1 PFF grade.
Dixon-Wyatt was an Oregon target in 2026, but he stuck with the Trojans after the Ducks pushed hard late. Ranked as the nation’s sixth-best wide receiver prospect, he has looked the part right away.
He has led USC in receiving in two of four games, including a career-best 102-yard performance in the rout of Fresno State. At 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, he already looks like more than a freshman, and his game matches the frame.
His average depth of target is a team-high 12.0. Trent Moseley, another true freshman, remains second on the team in receiving despite missing last weekend and is expected to miss more games.
Sophomores Corey Simms and Zach Williams have also been reliable options, with Simms especially stepping up in Moseley’s absence. At tight end, freshman Mark Bowman, a 5-star recruit in 2026, has given USC another capable target as both a receiver and a blocker.
Up front, Jide Abasiri has become USC’s most impactful defensive lineman. The junior has 11 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and one sack, along with an 88.4 PFF grade.
That’s a clear step forward from 2025, when his play was uneven and he started nine games but only one after mid-October. At 289 pounds, Abasiri has already nearly matched his tackle-for-loss total from last season, though most of that damage came in the first two games.
He didn’t record a TFL against Louisiana or Rutgers. Abasiri wasn’t a blue-chip recruit; he flipped to USC from Minnesota on signing day after being a 3-star prospect and the fifth-best player in Minnesota, according to 247Sports.
He has outplayed Jahkeem Stewart so far, and Stewart has yet to play this season because of a foot injury. It’s unclear whether Stewart will debut this weekend.
In the secondary, Prophet Brown has made his first year as a starter count. Through four games, he has eight tackles, two interceptions and a defensive touchdown, with a 65.3 PFF grade.
Brown’s biggest moment came against Rutgers, when he took a pick 99 yards for a score. Now in his fifth year, he has waited a long time for this role and has already made a difference.
The production has come with some rough edges, though. He has allowed the second-most receiving yards on the team in coverage at 102, and he has missed three tackles, also second-most on the roster.
In Other News...
Oregon Just Lost A Receiver Its Passing Game Really Needed
Jeremiah McClellans foot injury landed at an especially awkward moment for Oregon, which had been counting on its starting wide receiver to help stabilize the passing game. The setback happened during warmups before the game against Portland State, and head coach Dan Lanning later confirmed McClellan broke his foot and will be out indefinitely. For a Ducks offense still trying to find its rhythm, losing a key perimeter target this early changes the picture quickly.
Oregon has already started leaning on other options to absorb the extra workload, with Messiah Hampton and Iverson Hooks among the receivers getting chances to step up. That creates an immediate test for the depth of the room and for how well the Ducks can keep the passing game on schedule without one of its more important pieces. How quickly the new rotation settles in may end up shaping the next stretch of the season. [Read more 🡒]
Dan Lanning Had A Strong Answer For Oregon Blowout Critics
Dan Lanning spent part of this week trying to put Oregons lopsided win over Portland State in context, and his explanation was straightforward: the Ducks were willing to shorten the second half to 10-minute quarters, but Portland State declined. Once the game continued, Oregon kept its starters out after halftime and turned the rest of the afternoon over to backup players, giving them a chance to get meaningful game experience in a game that was never in doubt.
There was still a human side to the blowout beyond the score itself. For some Ducks, including Akili Smith Jr. and Brady Bidwell, the matchup carried personal moments that mattered inside a game otherwise defined by the criticism around the margin. That is the part Lanning seemed intent on emphasizing, even as the outside conversation kept circling back to how much running up the score really happened. [Read more 🡒]
Oregons Early Transfer Returns Are Raising One Uncomfortable Question
Through the first three games, Oregons transfer-portal haul has looked less like a roster overhaul and more like a mixed bag wrapped into a team that has leaned heavily on returners and younger players. The Ducks brought in help with clear expectations, but the early returns have varied from player to player, with some settling into useful roles and others still searching for a real foothold in the rotation.
For a program that has used the portal as part of its roster-building plan, the uncomfortable question is whether the additions have actually changed the shape of this team enough. Oregon has gotten more dependable production from familiar faces than from its new arrivals, and the next stretch will tell whether that is just an early-season snapshot or a sign that the Ducks may need more from the transfer class to match their bigger ambitions. [Read more 🡒]