Matt Leinart doesn’t want to get too excited about USC just yet, but there are many reasons why the SoCal icon is feeling particularly bullish about the 2025 Trojans and believes they can make the College Football Playoff.
Quarterback Jayden Maiava is chief among them.
In the latest episode of the “Joel Klatt Show,” Leinart said he’s “in love” with how Maiava has played so far to start the season and believes that he resembles the quarterbacks Lincoln Riley had during his time at Oklahoma.
“He’s a pass-first guy, which I love, but he can run and make plays, so he can stress a defense,” Leinart said. “He can improvise. He had a great play last week against Michigan State, where he had [two rushing] touchdowns. But he’s also very good from the pocket. He’s not turning the football over.
“Lincoln finally has a quarterback, kind of like what he had [with] a Baker [Mayfield] and some of those guys in Oklahoma, that just fits everything he’s doing. And now all of a sudden, we’re seeing it all come to fruition.”
Of course, Maiava isn’t the first talented quarterback that Riley has had in his four seasons at USC. Caleb Williams won the Heisman in Riley’s first season at USC in 2022 before becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. But Leinart explained that Maiava is a happy medium between Williams and 2024 starter Miller Moss, saying that Maiava’s skill set allows the Trojans to play more within Riley’s system and run the ball more than they have in recent years.
“I think the quarterback really matters in this discussion,” Leinart said. “Woody Marks was fantastic, but they would get away and all of a sudden, it’s like they’re throwing the ball four or five times in a row. Like, why? Maybe there wasn’t as much of a trust on the offensive line, the quarterback play and all of that.”
As Leinart noted, USC has been highly effective on the ground this season. The Trojans are averaging 252.3 rushing yards per game — 12th-most in the nation — and their 7.1 yards per carry ranks second among all Power 4 programs.
While Maiava has contributed to the ground game, running back Waymond Jordan has been the catalyst of the Trojans’ rushing attack so far. He has rushed for 443 yards on an impressive 7.8 yards per carry, going for 157 yards on 8.7 yards per carry against Michigan State.
Waymond Jordan (left) and Jayden Maiava have helped USC’s offense to become one of the most potent in the nation so far this season. (Carlin Stiehl/ Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Leinart said that he thinks Jordan has a real shot at winning the Heisman this season, but he had the offensive and defensive lines among the top reasons why this USC team might be different from the ones in recent memory.
“Offensive line is playing really well. They look more physical,” Leinart said. “Now, time will tell when they start to play — they got Illinois, Michigan and Notre Dame coming up on the schedule. They look more physical, I think.
“But I think the defensive line is the biggest thing for me and we get a chance to see these teams in person, and sometimes you can just tell right away. You can tell the way they look, the way they move, the athleticism. … USC has finally gotten to that point. Seeing them this weekend and standing in the end zone where the D-lineman and O-lineman go. I’m like, ‘Dude, finally we got some dudes now.’ They’re young. They need more depth and need to continue to recruit, but they got some guys.
“I think the reason for optimism is we’re a lot better up front, on both sides of the ball.”
To Leinart’s point, USC has allowed just three sacks and 16 pressures so far this season, per Pro Football Focus. Last season, the Trojans gave up 15 sacks, but their quarterbacks were pressured 139 times over 13 games.
Defensively, USC has already recorded 16 sacks — tied for the most in the nation and just five shy of its total from all of last season. The Trojans are also generating far more pressure, averaging 21 quarterback pressures per game compared to 14.3 a year ago, per Pro Football Focus — a jump of nearly 50%.
Braylan Shelby leads USC in sacks this season with 3.5. (Photo by Greg Fiore/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Adding to Leinart’s point, Joel Klatt mentioned that the literal size of USC’s linemen this year is bigger than last year’s. The average weight of USC’s first and second-string defensive linemen this year is 300 pounds, which is up from their average weight of 278 last year, Klatt said.
Not only has that size been apparent to Klatt, who will call Saturday’s game between USC and Illinois (noon ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app), but it’s also made the Trojans a sneaky contender.
“I think USC is much more for real than anybody is giving them credit for around the country,” Klatt said. “I think they’re underrated.”
And while Klatt thinks USC is underrated, Leinart isn’t underrating the Trojans’ chances to make the CFP.
“I think they’re a 10-2, 11-1 team if they continue to play the way they are,” Leinart said. “We could say they haven’t played anybody this and that — they’re dominating in every facet of the game, and they’ve improved in every area of the game.”
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