Jayden Maiava’s start at USC has been good enough to keep him in the national quarterback conversation, and CBS Sports’ latest rankings reflect that. After the opening week of college football, the Trojans’ quarterback landed at No. 8 in CBS Sports’ week 2 list, slipping one spot from his preseason placement of seventh.
The drop wasn’t about Maiava suddenly losing momentum so much as it was about other quarterbacks making noise in week 1. CBS Sports put No.
7 Miami’s Darian Mensah at the top of the updated list, followed by No. 8 LSU’s Sam Leavitt and No.
9 Ole Miss’s Trinidad Chambliss.
Even with USC still waiting on a real stress test, Maiava has been steady through two games. He has thrown for 635 yards and five touchdowns while avoiding interceptions entirely. He has also been taken down just once.
“I think it comes from the (offensive) line, running back, receivers just all in the same page playing at a really high level. Obviously, there’s some things to clean up that we want to get better at,” Maiava said after their shutout win over Fresno State.
That performance came against a young receiving group that includes freshmen Trent Mosely, Ethan “Boobie” Feaster, and Kayden Dixon-Wyatt, but Maiava has already shown he can spread the ball around and hit open targets. Against Fresno State, he found Mosley four times for 104 yards and two touchdowns, and he also connected with Dixon-Wyatt for 102 yards in a 349-yard passing day. The effort earned him Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors.
“Guys are making plays for him, and we’ve protected him very well. In terms of his arm talents, he’s always been an accurate guy,” coach Lincoln Riley said about Maiava.
“He actually doesn’t need that much space to throw. He’s always had arm talent, but he’s strong.”
USC finishes its non-conference slate against first-time opponent Louisiana on Saturday night, then opens Big Ten play the following week with its first road trip of the year at Rutgers. Neither matchup figures to be a major obstacle for the Trojans, giving Maiava another chance to keep building on his early-season rhythm.
The bigger spotlight is waiting down the road when No. 6 Oregon visits Los Angeles.
In last season’s game between USC and the Ducks, Maiava threw for more than 300 yards and three touchdowns in the 42-27. He also turned it over twice, a problem he has dealt with in bigger games and is trying to clean up this season.
“He’s comfortable with how we want to attack people and understands our schemes/concepts,” Riley said. “A majority of the time, he knows where the ball should go.”
For now, the season is still in its early stretch, and Maiava has time before the Trojans start running into the top-tier Big Ten opponents. But with the numbers he’s putting up and the control he’s showing, he’s already making a strong case to stay among college football’s best quarterbacks.
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That makes the next test even more meaningful for Arkansas, which is about to learn just how much this Week 3 matchup can reshape the conversation around both programs. With the projected poll already sorting contenders from pretenders based on recent results, Oregons standing and the stakes around its next opponent are all tied together now, and the coming week should show whether last Saturday was a bump in the road or something more concerning. [Read more 🡒]