Late push gives the Trojans a playoff pulse in the heartland

Maiava and offense sputter but USC edges Nebraska to keep faint CFP hopes alive.

- BY RYAN KARTJE

STEVEN BRANSCOMBE Getty Images

QUARTERBACK Jayden Maiava (14) is pushed out of bounds by Nebraska defensive lineman Elijah Jeudy during the visiting Trojans' 21-17 victory Saturday night.

During the two weeks since USC's deflating defeat at Notre Dame, Lincoln Riley reiterated the same rallying cry with his team. Their destiny, he told them, was still in their hands. A special season was still within reach. A College Football Playoff run was still in play.

All it would take was his Trojans putting the past behind them and playing their best football.

But that’s not what happened Saturday. After two weeks preparing to put their best foot forward, USC put together one of its least impressive efforts of the season. Its offense was out of sorts. Its defense was run over on the ground. And yet still, in spite of it all, the Trojans managed to escape with a 21-17 victory.

It was the Trojans’ second true road win outside of L.A. since October 2023. And boy did they need it — for reasons beyond their faint playoff dreams.

“You have to win some of these like this,” Riley said. “As this program continues to ascend, the more you win these in different types of ways, the more the confidence of everybody [grows].”

BONNIE RYAN Associated Press

KING MILLER, fending off Nebraska defenders, had the winning score Saturday.

No one wearing cardinal and gold looked all the confident for the better part of three quarters Saturday. Not as a sellout crowd clad entirely in black roared through the night with every USC misstep.