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The USC football story of the week, the quarterback change from Miller Moss to Jayden Maiava, is an important move by Lincoln Riley. It makes sense on some obvious levels, chiefly because Riley and USC needed to get a look at Maiava before the end of the season. USC isn’t playing for a championship. It can afford to give Maiava the keys to the car and see how the offense performs.
This move isn’t being made primarily to help USC win. That’s part of the calculus, but it’s not the main reason. Riley is giving Maiava a chance to compile game tape and presumably keep him within the program in 2025. Not playing Maiava might lead the quarterback to transfer out of USC. Riley doesn’t want that, and he can’t afford that. Winning on Saturday is secondary, not primary, in this calculus.
This brings up a point: While Riley should not be criticized for waiting this long to start Maiava, we can point out that having two quarterbacks with different skill sets could be turned into a tactical advantage.
Miller Moss can have a package for him. Jayden Maiava can have his own package of plays. Both could play and give USC more versatility.
Consider this: When USC got stuffed near the goal line by Washington last Saturday, imagine what might have been different if Maiava, a dual-threat quarterback, had been on the field. Washington couldn’t crash down against the run as aggressively, knowing a Maiava bootleg was a possibility.
We’re not criticizing Riley for how he handled his quarterbacks this year, but we are pointing out that in the future, if Riley doesn’t have a Caleb Williams-level superstar at quarterback, he could consider using two different guys in specific situations with specific packages. He could optimize his resources and get more from his offense. That’s our modest point.
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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/usc-qb-change-needs-turning-235900255.html
Author : Trojans Wire
Publish date : 2024-11-07 23:59:00
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