Jayden Maiava defines a successful season for him with a national championship

The USC Trojans are looking to bounce back from an up-and-down first season in the Big Ten. Certainly, quarterback Jayden Maiava is setting the bar high in their second season in the conference, even striving for a national championship.

Maiava recently spoke at USC Media Day. There, he defined a successful season as being a national championship.

“National Championship,” Jayden Maiava said. “I feel like that’s what everybody on this team would answer with that question. Obviously, one day at a time. Staying disciplined about it, but it’s obviously something that is a part of our goal.”

Jayden Maiava took over as USC’s starting quarterback late last season but appeared in seven total games. In the four games he did start, including the Las Vegas Bowl, USC would go 3-1, only losing to Notre Dame. For his part, Maiava completed 59.8 percent of passes for 1,201 yards and 11 touchdowns to six interceptions. He also had 45 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns.

Still, on the whole, USC would finish just 7-6 overall and 4-5 in Big Ten play. That was the third season for head coach Lincoln Riley with the Trojans, who has seen his team go from an 11-win team that made the Cotton Bowl in his first season to a team that has won fewer games every season of his tenure and nearly missed a bowl in 2024. The expectation for USC was that they’d be competitive nationally under Riley.

There are few programs as decorated as USC. The Trojans claim 11 national championships. That’s the third most all-time. At the same time, they haven’t won it all since 2004, making it better than two decades since USC added to their national championship total. Since its inception, USC has failed to even make the College Football Playoff.

Lincoln Riley wants to ‘trim the fat’ off Jayden Maiava’s game in 2025

If there is an obvious strength to Lincoln Riley as a coach, it’s that he’s an excellent quarterback developer. He wants to have Jayden Maiava continue to grow in 2025, which would help the Trojans take another leap forward. To do that, Riley feels he needs to trim some fat from Maiava.

“We were excited about how he played. Given his inexperience in our system, and kind of coming in that type of situation is not always the easiest. And I thought he handled it really well. I mean, we went 3-1 in the games that he played, and he gave us a great chance to beat Notre Dame with the way he played in that game. His good is so good. I mean, some of the throws that this guy makes, how decisive he is as a player. I mean, his good is so good,” Riley said.

“And I think the big goal for us is trimming some of the fat off of this. Can you take the good, certainly try to enhance that, but then can you take some of the negative plays, or some of the force throws, and can you remove those from his game? Because he’s really grown.”

The 2025 season is going to be a big one for USC and Lincoln Riley. They’ll look to take strides forward. That starts with Missouri State on August 30th.