It wasn’t how redshirt junior quarterback Jayden Maiava drew it up — not even particularly close. But it was enough.

Before Saturday’s game against Nebraska (6-3, 3-3 Big Ten), Maiava’s least efficient performance had been the game just before, a 34-24 loss to No. 10 Notre Dame (6-2) on the road. In the loss, the typically level-headed quarterback completed 22-of-42 passes, about 52%, for over 300 yards. Against the Cornhuskers, he completed less than 40% of his passes — 9-for-23 — for 135 yards, an interception and no passing touchdowns.

Nevertheless, it was Maiava’s strong run game, late-game decision making and a massive flea flicker pass that propelled the No. 20 Trojans (6-2, 4-1) to a gritty, come-from-behind 21-17 win over Nebraska, securing bowl eligibility and extending their hopes of making a College Football Playoff debut.

“You play quarterback long enough, there’s going to be games like this where things are just a little bit out of whack,” Head Coach Lincoln Riley said of Maiava in a postgame news conference, as the quarterback leaned down and shook his head. “Your ability to just hang in there and keep swinging and find a way to make winning plays, that’s what the really good ones do.”

Defense won the game, Maiava says

Maiava’s struggles were a continued factor into the third quarter as he threw his fifth interception in USC’s last four games on a poor-decision pass intended for junior wide receiver Ja’Kobi Lane that was smothered by Husker junior defensive back Andrew Marshall. While Maiava’s recent interception troubles — coming after he threw none in the Trojans’ first four contests — have put USC in tough spots, this one looked like it may have handed Nebraska the win, already up 14-6.

However, the stalwart Trojan defense picked Maiava and the rest of the offense up, sacking Nebraska sophomore quarterback Dylan Raiola and forcing a fumble, which was later recovered by sophomore defensive end Kameryn Crawford. 

“Defense did a hell of a job, obviously. Hats off to them,” Maiava said in a postgame news conference. “They’re the reason why we got this win.”

After the play, Raiola — who had been performing well to that point, completing 10-of-15 passes for 91 yards and a touchdown — exited the game with an ankle injury and would not return, giving the Trojans even more leverage.

While the Trojan turnaround wasn’t immediate after Raiola’s injury, it was fully realized by the end of the third quarter and was mostly thanks to the bounce-back effort of Maiava.

“He’s Jayden, calm, cool, collected. He’s always prepared, no matter what it is,” redshirt freshman running back King Miller said in a postgame news conference. “He’s the leader of this team, so it was no surprise that he took his role and kept this team going.”

On USC’s last drive of the third quarter, Maiava completed a 29-yard pass to freshman wide receiver Tanook Hines and rushed for 16 yards twice, including a touchdown run to tie the game at 14. While Maiava has needed to scramble less this season with just 41 yards entering Saturday, he went for 62 against Nebraska; he would have had more without the 12 yards lost due to kneels to close the game.

King Miller does it again

While it was Maiava who brought USC back in it with the third-quarter touchdown run, it was Miller who came up with the two-point conversion to physically tie the game at 14 and later added the go-ahead fourth-quarter score on a six-yard rush.

After Miller had a breakout 158-yard performance to lead the Trojans over Michigan (7-2, 5-1) following major injuries to USC’s top-two backs, he took a step back against Notre Dame, averaging about 3.9 yards per carry. His 129 yards on 18 carries, about a 7.2-yard average, and a touchdown on Saturday almost single-handedly held the Trojan offense together early on.

“He ran awesome. He ran hard,” Riley said. “He was really close to popping a few of those all the way.”

While the Trojans finally had redshirt sophomore left tackle Elijah Paige back after sustaining an injury during a win against Michigan State (3-6, 0-6), junior right guard Alani Noa left the game early on and did not return, being replaced by King’s brother, redshirt freshman lineman Kaylon Miller. 

“I always can trust him, no matter what it is,” King Miller said of his brother’s performance. “It does suck to see one of our guys go down, but I knew [Kaylon] was going to go in there and do the best he could, and he absolutely did that today.”

Riley said Kaylon’s performance was especially impressive since he had mostly been taking snaps at center during practice, with redshirt junior starting center Kilian O’Connor still out. Even with multiple starters out, the line still performed well, blocking for over 200 rushing yards and surrendering just three sacks.

On the other side of the ball, just one game after Notre Dame redshirt junior running back Jeremiyah Love ran all over USC’s defense, Nebraska junior running back Emmett Johnson gave the Trojans a bit of déjà vu, going for 165 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries.

“We’ll look at the tape and want to have tackled better,” Riley said.

Penalties a sore spot in win

Multiple penalties, including two intentional grounding calls on Maiava, stifled early Trojan momentum. Redshirt sophomore Tobias Raymond, who was in at left guard Saturday, had two costly false start penalties, one of which forced USC to punt when they were lined up to go for it on fourth-and-2.

“Against a good defense on a night like this, you definitely don’t want to make your job harder, and we did that,” Riley said. “But we rallied.”

However, an undisciplined unsportsmanlike conduct call on redshirt senior cornerback DeCarlos Nicholson right after redshirt senior safety Bishop Fitzgerald made a critical tackle for loss was the penalty that stood out, setting up Nebraska for its only second-half score to take the lead back early in the fourth quarter.

Outside of that drive, however, the Trojans were able to hold freshman quarterback TJ Lateef and company to almost nothing after Raiola left the game. Lateef was essentially ineffective in the air, only throwing for seven yards.

The penalty problems were a stark contrast to the Notre Dame game, where the Trojans only had one, but another reversal worked out in USC’s favor. 

After earning criticism online for his playcalling against the Fighting Irish, Riley was firing on all cylinders Saturday, including multiple successful trick plays and fakes, most notably a 43-yard flea flicker to redshirt senior wide receiver Jaden Richardson — the first pass play of over 40 yards Nebraska had given up this season.

Next up for USC is a quick-turnaround Friday night game against Northwestern (5-3, 3-2) at 6 p.m. at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.