Jayden Maiava heads into 2026 with plenty to prove, at least in the eyes of USA TODAY’s Big Ten quarterback rankings.
The USC quarterback landed fifth on the outlet’s list, behind Washington’s Demond Williams and well behind Ohio State’s Julian Sayin, who took the top spot. That placement says as much about the skepticism around Maiava and the Trojans as it does about the quarterbacks themselves.
USA TODAY framed Maiava as a player who can rise if USC gets back into the playoff conversation. “Maiava gets lost in the shuffle in the Big Ten but has an opportunity to climb this list if USC can leap back into the playoff picture. The former UNLV transfer will have plenty to work with thanks to more transfer help and the addition of one of the year’s top recruiting classes,” the article stated.
Williams was slotted ahead of him after a productive season in which he completed 69.5% of his passes for 3,065 yards and 28 touchdowns. USA TODAY also pointed to Washington’s struggles against top competition, noting that “UW managed just 27 combined points in losses to Ohio State, Michigan and Oregon.”
At No. 1, Sayin brought the kind of numbers that make the ranking easy to understand.
USA TODAY wrote that “Maybe the biggest hurdle to Sayin claiming the Heisman Trophy is his teammate, wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, who is widely seen as the best pound-for-pound player in the country. To his credit, Sayin is coming off a year with 3,610 yards and 32 touchdowns while averaging 9.2 yards per attempt.
There’s every reason to think he’ll take another step forward in 2026 under new OSU offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.”
For Maiava, the message is simple: the respect isn’t fully there yet. The only real answer is to go out and change it.
In Other News...
USC-UCLA Has One Tradition College Football Should Stop Copying
When Alabama and Tennessee announced they would both wear their home uniforms for their meeting this season, it stirred up an old college football debate: whether more rivalries should embrace the look that has long defined USC and UCLA. In Los Angeles, the setup works because it is tied to one specific game, one specific feel and one of the sports most recognizable visual traditions, with the Trojans cardinal and the Bruins blue playing off each other in a way that instantly says something about the rivalry itself.
But making double-home uniforms a routine habit across college football would risk turning a special wrinkle into a gimmick. The NFL learned as much during its Color Rush experiment, where color-on-color matchups sometimes looked fresh and sometimes just looked awkward, and thats the caution here for USC fans who know the rivalrys aesthetic is part of the event. What makes USC-UCLA stand out is that it is not everywhere, and college football is usually better when it leaves a few traditions alone. [Read more 🡒]
Why USC Fans Still Treat One Enemy Different Than Everyone Else
For USC fans, the old grievances still have a way of dwarfing the modern rivalry map. ESPNs recent list of arch-enemies for power conference programs put the NCAA at the top of the Trojans board instead of a fellow school, a nod to how deeply the sanctions from the Reggie Bush investigation still linger in the fan bases memory. The punishment tied to improper benefits never faded into simple history around here; it became part of how USC supporters tell the story of what the program lost and who they blame for it.
The resentment is sharpened by the feeling that college footballs enforcement has never looked even-handed. USCs punishment remains a touchstone in debates over fairness because the NCAAs handling of violations has often seemed inconsistent, and Penn States less severe sanction for far more serious infractions is still a painful comparison for Trojan fans. So while rivalries usually come with a school, a mascot or a border war, USCs most personal beef remains institutional, and it is not hard to see why that edge has never really gone away. [Read more 🡒]
USC Secondary Hype Around Jontez Williams Comes With One Big Catch
Jontez Williams arrives at USC with the kind of rsum that naturally gets people talking. The Iowa State transfer was an All-Big 12 Second Team selection in 2024, and his reputation as a disruptive defensive back has already made him one of the more intriguing pieces in the Trojans secondary heading into the upcoming season. An analyst even slotted him 145th among college football players, which says plenty about the respect he carries and the level of expectation surrounding him in Los Angeles.
For USC, the appeal is obvious: Williams is expected to play a significant role right away in a unit that needs difference-makers. The catch is just as obvious, though no less important. His value to the Trojans hinges on health, and that makes his availability one of the quieter but more consequential storylines as USC tries to stabilize its defense and turn a promising addition into a real asset. [Read more 🡒]