USC football seeks better showing in Game 2: ‘Clean up some stuff’

Could a team that rolled up a 28-point lead and won comfortably in its season opener be in need of a do-over?

It certainly felt that way after USC football was panned for its flop of a fourth quarter and puny crowd at the Coliseum last weekend against San Jose State. The Trojans gave up 23 points in the final 15 minutes of their 42-26 victory before an announced crowd of 51,144 that was considerably smaller.

The list of gripes didn’t stop there.

Heck, even quarterback Jayden Maiava admitted there was room for improvement — after he nearly completed every pass.

“Definitely could clean up some stuff,” Maiava said, “play a lot better.”

While the size of the crowd that shows up Friday evening at the Coliseum to watch No. 14 USC (1–0) face Fresno State (0–0) is largely out of the Trojans’ control, they can dictate whether the show on the field is more worthwhile than what preceded it.

Here are five things to watch in a game that will be televised by Fox:

Tighten it up

On paper, Maiava played an almost perfect game.

He completed 25 of 29 passes for 286 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for an additional score. His 86.2 completion percentage was the highest in one game by a USC quarterback since at least 1995 (with a minimum of 25 attempts).

So, what’s the problem?

Well, at least a handful of those completions required the receivers to make a nice play on passes that weren’t thrown well. An intentional grounding penalty resulted in a sack.

The mistake that seemed to stick with Maiava most was his unwillingness to throw the ball on a fourth-and-goal play in which he scanned the field in search of an open receiver. Not seeing what he liked, Maiava took off running and was stopped short of the goal line.

Asked about the play earlier this week, Maiava said he had a receiver open in the flat, suggesting either he didn’t see him or wasn’t willing to throw the ball.

“You can’t play the position hesitant,” Maiava said, “so coach [Lincoln] Riley does a great job of letting me know that, to play decisive and continue playing aggressive.”

Running aground

Consider Anthony Jones Jr. unimpressed.

The USC running backs coach told his players he didn’t like their ball security, lack of explosive runs or inability to stay on their feet.

“It was brutal,” Waymond Jordan said of Jones Jr.’s assessment.

Is he always this hard to please?

“Yeah,” Jordan said, “any grade that’s not a 90% or above is basically a F to him.”

While Jordan averaged 6 yards per carry in his first appearance since last October and King Miller gained a team-leading 66 yards rushing, neither player managed any runs longer than 11 yards.

What happened?

“I mean, I think it was more overthinking and not going out there and playing,” Jordan said. “We just didn’t play to our standard; we didn’t make the plays that we usually make.”

Can the defense rest?

It will be interesting to see if Riley and defensive coordinator Gary Patterson give their reserves another extended run if the Trojans take a big lead into the fourth quarter.

What transpired near the end of the game last weekend did not inspire much confidence in the backups.

“It was good for those guys to get reps,” Riley said. “We had a couple of guys that handled it well, and we had a couple of guys that honestly did not handle it as well as we could have.”

Pump up the volume

Given they can’t suddenly plonk Notre Dame back onto their schedule or control the weather, there’s not much the Trojans can do to boost attendance before more enticing opponents arrive at the Coliseum.

It should help that the temperature at kickoff Friday is forecast to dip into the mid-70s — roughly 20 degrees cooler than the sweltering conditions inside the Coliseum last weekend. But will Friday evening traffic, combined with another relatively unexciting opponent, lead to a late-arriving crowd — or fans not showing up at all?

Bringing the juice

If you noticed those giant juice boxes being hoisted into the air on USC’s sideline last weekend, you witnessed Riley’s latest motivational ploy.

Offensive lineman Justin Tauanuu said the coach is using those boxes to generate emotional juice among players trying to pump up their teammates.

“Very grateful for those guys,” offensive tackle Elijah Page said. “Those guys are just as important as the guys on the field.”

Coaches award weekly winners for bringing the juice, with Travis Leonard and Shawn Sehra among the most recent recipients, according to Jordan.

“I’m going to try to get one maybe this week,” Jordan said.

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