USC QB Jayden Maiava defends Lincoln Riley as calls to fire him grow louder

USC quarterback Jayden Maiava has spoken up for head coach Lincoln Riley. Calls for the Trojans to fire Riley have grown louder over the past month, and Maiava says the noise has reached the locker room. The team is using it as motivation anyway.

Maiava made his comments on Outta Pocket, the show hosted by Robert Griffin III, according to Pro Football Network. He admitted the criticism bothers the players. He said everyone inside the building knows who Riley is and called him the best coach in the country. "Yes it does bother us, but we use it as fuel," Maiava said, per Pro Football Network.

The loudest criticism came on September 28 from ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum. He was on First Take to discuss the one-game suspension of USC linebacker Desman Stephens II, and he turned the conversation to Riley, calling the coach a fraud. Finebaum compared Riley to Clay Helton, whom USC fired in 2021. He pointed out that Riley has the same record at this stage of his tenure that Helton had. He also urged USC to move on even though Riley's buyout is reported at roughly $72 million, compared with about $10 million to remove Helton.

The numbers back up the comparison, at least on paper. Pro Football Network notes that Riley went 35-18 over his first four seasons in Los Angeles, the same record Helton had through his first 53 games with the program. Helton's case also shows how fast patience can run out at USC when results level off.

The current season tells a different story. The Trojans are 6-1 and still very much in the College Football Playoff race. Maiava had one of his best games last time out at Penn State, throwing for 301 yards without an interception in a win at Happy Valley. Riley said afterward that his quarterback looked poised and confident. He added that Maiava was locked into the game plan and stayed steady the whole game.

That game helps explain why Maiava's defense of his coach carries weight. Riley's offense depends on its quarterback, and Maiava has become the face of this team's push for the program's first playoff appearance. When the starting quarterback backs the head coach this publicly in the middle of a winning season, it signals that the players are not tuning out the staff, whatever the national commentary says.

USC has no game this week. It is the Trojans' first bye of the season, a chance to get healthy and look at what has worked through seven games. The bye also leaves the Riley debate with no new results to settle it, so the argument will likely continue until USC is back on the field.

The bigger question is the second half of the schedule. If Maiava builds on his showing in State College and USC stays in the playoff picture, the criticism of Riley should fade. If the Trojans stumble, the comparison to Helton will come back fast, and so will the talk about the buyout.