Football season is back. Soon, campus will be full of fans donning cardinal and gold, dragging painted coolers and holding Trojan paraphernalia, all signaling the start of a new USC football season. But as fans file into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum stands and players run through the tunnel, all look forward to what is — hopefully — a sign of a better future for USC football. 

It’s to this tune that the Trojans will face Missouri State University this Saturday, a year after their first Big Ten season began with equally high hopes but ended with an underwhelming 7-6 record, though they finished on a high note with a bowl win. 

“I can’t wait to go to war with these boys,” said redshirt junior quarterback Jayden Maiava in a post-practice news conference Tuesday. “These guys have been getting after it and attacking each and every day, upholding that standard and maintaining it, so I can’t wait.” 

Maiava aiming for consistency

Maiava is this season’s starting quarterback, a job he won last season after former quarterback Miller Moss fell out of favor. Maiava’s four-game performance was impressive, albeit inconsistent, showing off a great arm while also picking through late-game interceptions and turnovers. 

“When he became the starter, it was kind of fast and furious,” Head Coach Lincoln Riley said in a late July interview. “At the end, we and he got a chance to just kind of catch our breath a little bit and say, ‘All right, how did this go? Where can we get better? What do the next steps look like?’”

Now, Maiava has his first full season as a Trojan starter ahead of him after a test run last year, perhaps with even bigger stakes. Not only is football aching for its first truly successful season since Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams led them to a Pacific-12 Championship in 2021, but the program is also searching for a true quarterback leader, something that has been missing since Williams.

“Honestly, I haven’t felt that yet,” Maiava said about fully taking over as a leader. “I am still preparing. I haven’t done close enough to feel that. Every day, I’ve just got to keep growing and just still be curious to learn whatever I can learn.”

‘Better than ever’

Two of Maiava’s key targets this season are holdovers from last season, junior receiver Ja’Kobi Lane and junior receiver Makai Lemon. Lemon participated as a receiver and as a kick returner in the 2024 season, picking up a team-leading 52 catches and 764 yards. 

Lane, who was only fully cleared for the final two weeks of preseason practice, suffered a broken foot in May before returning to limited movement at camp. Now, he is listed as a starter for the game against Missouri State this weekend. 

“Ja’Kobi is full go now,” Riley said. 

Lane, who had an incredible MVP performance in the Trojans’ Las Vegas Bowl win against Texas A&M, hopes to repeat more of the same in his third season at USC. 

Lane said his foot felt “better than ever” in a post-practice news conference Wednesday.

The Trojans have backfield options, with junior running back Waymond Jordan as the first choice to support Maiava with the run game. Jordan, a transfer from Hutchinson Community College, impressed early in fall camp and is hopeful to make a real mark in his first year in Los Angeles. 

“He’s been the most consistent and the most well-rounded back,” Riley said about Jordan on Monday. “Waymond has been really productive. We’re eager to see him. There’s a lot of production at the college level already that this guy’s had.”

‘We got that swagger’

Defensive Coordinator D’Anton Lynn and his bunch have boasted immense depth at the defensive line, something teams of Trojan past could not say. With star redshirt senior linebacker Eric Gentry back healthy after a series of concussions, Lynn and the entirety of the defense have begun to see real change within the subteam on the field and in the locker room. 

“We got that confidence now. We got that swagger,” said junior defensive end Braylan Shelby in a post-practice news conference Wednesday. “Our ability to go out there, rock on the field and make our presence known, as within these practices, but then just prepping for this game, you can see it out there.”

Also one to watch is five-star freshman defensive tackle recruit Jahkeem Stewart, who graduated a year early in 2025. Stewart, however, will probably not start for the Trojans on Saturday in the name of load management for the true freshman. However, he is one of 20 players that are at least listed as fit to play on USC’s D-Line this upcoming season. 

At the corner and safety positions, USC’s longest tenured back Prophet Brown is still ruled out for the first part of the season, after suffering a non-contact injury in practice at the beginning of fall camp. Stepping up are redshirt senior cornerback DeCarlos Nicholson and redshirt senior safety Bishop Fitzgerald, as well as redshirt sophomore safety Kamari Ramsey, with Fitzgerald being the only transfer of the bunch. 

“[I just want to] come out with a win and have fun with my guys,” said Fitzgerald in a Wednesday media conference. “You know, my first game in the Coliseum. It’s a blessing. We worked so hard this offseason. We’re just blessed to be here. We’re just going to show that we are who we think we are.”

Bears ‘have a lot of eye candy’

As for Missouri State University, the Bears, led by third-year Head Coach Ryan Beard, enter their first Football Bowl Subdivision game as 35.5-point underdogs, hoping to upset the Trojans at home after finishing 8-4 last season.

Senior quarterback Jacob Clark is a strong leader for the team, throwing for 3,604 yards, 26 touchdowns and six interceptions last year. 

One of Clark’s top targets is junior Jmariyae Robinson, who caught 585 yards and four touchdowns. Additionally, the Bears will rely on senior running back Shomari Lawrence in the backfield. Lawrence, a transfer out of Florida International University, had 47 carries in a 177-yard season.

“They have a lot of eye candy, a lot of play action, throwback screens, boundary screens, really good run game and a really timely quarterback,” said Fitzgerald in a post-practice media conference Wednesday. “[Clark] can make a lot of intermediate throws inside the hash itself. Staying disciplined and covering is going to be a big emphasis for us.”

USC will kick off its season against Missouri State on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at the Coliseum.