maiava

After USC’s bye earlier this season, the Trojans flopped.

They lost 24-7 to unranked Wisconsin. Quarterback Jayden Maiava passed for 257 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. USC’s rushing game was held to minus-18 yards, while the offense averaged 3.2 yards per play.

The experience changed the way coach Lincoln Riley approached the team’s second bye week leading into No. 18 USC’s big game at No. 9 Indiana (8-1, 5-1 Big Ten) on Saturday. If the Trojans (7-2, 4-2) win, they keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive. A loss would eliminate USC from playoff contention.

“We were on the field more last week, certainly than we were the first time around,” Riley said of his team’s workouts during the bye. “We handled the weekend a bit differently, both with players and staff, and I think we came into this week with probably more good work under our belt and a little bit more prepared.”

USC coach Lincoln Riley watches his team warm up before beating Ohio State at the Coliseum on Oct. 31.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

“We’re quite a bit further ahead than we were at this point before playing Wisconsin,” he added.

This bye week comes after the Trojans beat No. 2 Ohio State 30-18. But that victory remains in the rearview mirror for Riley and Maiava. Just as the team needs to move past a loss, Maiava understands the importance of looking beyond arguably the team’s best win of the season and remaining focused on the present.

“Every single day requires our best. If we’re focused on yesterday’s victories, you lose out on opportunities for today’s victories,” Maiava said.

It’s a message Riley reiterated.

“The reality is you’re not gonna play your best every week. You want to get as close to it as you can, and then you want to get good enough that even when you’re not at your best, you still find ways to win ballgames,” he said. “… These are one-week seasons, and we got to be our very best here this week.”

With three games left in the season, USC’s fate remains in its own hands. A win at Indiana followed by a home game against Maryland at the Coliseum would set up a consequential matchup with No. 4 UCLA to close out the season.

Wide receiver Trent Mosley believes the team has prepared for that pressure during its two weeks of practice.

“We’re all pushing every day. We all know what’s in front of us, and we’re taking it week by week,” he said.

Saturday’s matchup will mark the fifth meeting between the two teams. Historically, the competition has been one-sided, with USC winning all four previous meetings.

Indiana enters Saturday’s game with the nation’s fourth-ranked scoring defense, allowing 12.4 points per game. The Hoosiers also have 32 team sacks, the fourth-most in the nation. Tight end Tucker Ashcraft trusts that USC’s offensive line will keep Indiana’s pass rush away from Maiava.

“[We need to] take advantage of all our opportunities, find the space in their zones and make big plays,” Ashcraft said.

Riley said he sees the opportunity to face reigning national champions as a benefit, helping the team make a late-season playoff push.

“Whether it’s [a] big end-of-season game, championship game, the more you’re in those scenarios, the more you’re used to being in that level of competition,” Riley said. “It’s a different type of feeling and a different type of strength that it takes to win and excel in those games.”

This will be the first time the teams meet during the Curt Cignetti era. The game will also mark the first meeting between Riley and Cignetti as opposing coaches.

“We sit next to each other in Big Ten meetings and make comments back and forth to each other the whole time,” Riley said. “He’s been a fun guy to interact with.”

As the Trojans head to Bloomington, they’ll face a significant change in weather, going from a high of 71 degrees in Los Angeles to a forecast high of 47 degrees in Indiana. For Hawaii native Maiava, playing November football in colder weather is a dream come true.

Regardless of the weather, USC is exactly where it wants to be at this point in the season, Riley said.

“We worked hard and it hasn’t been perfect, but there’s been a lot more good than bad, and that’s why we’re one of the few teams that sits here right now controlling our destiny in so many ways,” he said.

MADISON, Wis. — Just two short weeks ago, as the Trojans’ marching band roared joyously from the bowels of Beaver Stadium and a cold Pennsylvania rain poured down on a jubilant Lincoln Riley, it seemed like USC and its embattled coach might’ve finally found a foothold, just as they were about to begin a brutal back half of the schedule. They even had a bye to be sure it stuck.

But by Saturday night, any renewed sense of hope in USC’s season had all but slipped away. Maybe for good.

Instead, the Trojans played as poorly as they have all season in a 24-7 loss to Wisconsin. Quarterback Jayden Maiava looked lost. The offensive line was overwhelmed. The rushing attack was worse than nonexistent, with minus-17 yards. And the special teams were an all-too-familiar disaster, with two critical missed kicks.

For one half, it seemed USC’s defense might be the bright spot that kept the Trojans’ hopes alive. It allowed just 78 yards — and just three yards per play — from Wisconsin.

But as the other two phases descended into disaster for USC (6-2, 3-2), its defense could only hold for so long. Wisconsin only managed to rack up 200 total yards, only 58 of which came through the air.

All the Badgers would need in the second half to outlast the Trojans was two successful scoring drives. That was too much for one of the nation’s most high-powered offenses to overcome.

USC certainly didn’t live up to that reputation. Maiava was 31 of 50 for 258 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. The Trojans’ leading rusher, freshman Shahn Alston, had 28 yards rushing, while their usual starter, King Miller, never found any room against Wisconsin (5-2, 3-1).

USC quarterback Jayden Maiava passes against Wisconsin on Oct. 24.

(Ross Harried / Associated Press)

That was after USC spent the bye week talking a big game about its renewed focus on the run game.

But nothing about the Trojans’ effort Saturday seemed at all focused.

It was USC’s defense that set the tone early, while its usually high-powered offense struggled to move the ball at all. Wisconsin tallied just eight total yards in the first quarter, as the Trojans swarmed the line of scrimmage and terrorized quarterback Colton Joseph in the pocket.

USC couldn’t do much better on that side of the ball. After an opening three and out, the Trojans were facing the prospect of another empty possession when Maiava threw it downfield on third and 10. But the pass into double coverage was tipped … directly into the arms of Wisconsin cornerback Bryce West.

West returned the interception to the red zone. But USC’s defense clamped down, and the Badgers only managed a field goal.

USC coach Lincoln Riley argues a call during the first half Saturday against Wisconsin.

(Matthew Holst / Getty Images)

Maiava gave it back on the ensuing drive. Under pressure on third down, the senior quarterback scrambled and then threw a late pass over the middle. It was picked off.

USC’s rushing attack wasn’t helping, either. The Trojans didn’t have a single yard on the ground through the first quarter and only managed 10 by halftime.

But the Trojans somehow cobbled together a touchdown drive in the second quarter, thanks to three Wisconsin penalties, all of which handed them first downs. The last of the three — a face mask on what would’ve been an incomplete pass to the end zone — gave USC new life at the one-yard line, and even still, it took the Trojans three plays to punch it in. Maiava eventually found tight end Taniela Tupou for the score.

That’s when the Trojans started to sputter on defense. After being unable to move the ball at all for most of the first half, Wisconsin drove the entire field for a score just before halftime. Then the Badgers marched down the field again and scored to open the third quarter.

Down 17-7, USC drove to Wisconsin’s 12-yard line. But under pressure on third down, Maiava threw it away and was called for intentional grounding. The Trojans tried a field goal, but it was blocked.

The missteps continued. Maiava was sacked again on USC’s next drive, once again pushing the Trojans out of field-goal range. Then, a delay of game pushed them back even farther.

Still, early in the fourth quarter, Riley sent out his kicker, Caden Chittenden, for a 58-yard field-goal attempt. A rain had started to fall over Camp Randall Stadium, eerily similar to State College two weeks earlier.

But Chittenden’s career-long attempt came up well short. And soon enough, USC would follow.