{"id":207478,"date":"2025-09-07T11:27:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T11:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/207478\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T11:27:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T11:27:16","slug":"jayden-maiava-leads-usc-to-rout-of-clay-heltons-georgia-southern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/207478\/","title":{"rendered":"Jayden Maiava leads USC to rout of Clay Helton’s Georgia Southern"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It was a subtle gesture. A nod of respect from USC<\/a> to a football coach who spent a dozen years in the building before an unceremonious exit. But as the public address announcer took the rare step of reading Clay Helton\u2019s name<\/a> aloud, the frustration from his final few years at USC<\/a> came pouring out in a chorus of boos from all corners of the Coliseum.<\/p>\n

Turns out, even four years after his firing, Helton could still conjure complicated feelings among the Trojan faithful. What he couldn\u2019t do Saturday is stop the Trojans from taking those feelings out on his football team in a 59-20 beatdown<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A reunion that began with courtesy quickly turned to catharsis, as the USC offense piled up yards and points at will for the second week in a row.<\/p>\n

After tallying 597 yards in its Week 1 blowout of Missouri State, USC moved the ball even more efficiently in Week 2, racking up 755 yards, the most at USC in two decades. They averaged 12 yards per play and ripped off a dozen big plays of 20-plus yards.<\/p>\n

\"USC <\/p>\n

USC receiver Ja\u2019Kobi Lane stretches out to pull in a touchdown pass with one hand against Georgia Southern on Saturday at the Coliseum.<\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

And just like last week, junior quarterback Jayden Maiava<\/a> was content to sit back and pick apart an inferior defense. He threw four touchdowns Saturday, while his 412 passing yards shattered his career high before the fourth quarter even began.<\/p>\n

By that point, the Trojans were once again trotting out their backups for a full quarter\u2019s worth of reps \u2014 all of which could end up being essential experience later in the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome getting everybody involved,\u201d Maiava said. <\/p>\n

Ja\u2019Kobi Lane and Makai Lemon, USC\u2019s top two receivers, didn\u2019t catch any passes after halftime \u2026 because they didn\u2019t have to. They still had 249 combined yards. And Maiava through two games has had to play just five quarters, and still has 707 passing yards and seven touchdowns to show for it.<\/p>\n

USC\u2019s rushing attack didn\u2019t face much resistance either on Saturday. The Trojans racked up 309 yards on the ground alone, the most of the Lincoln Riley<\/a> era by a wide margin. Waymond Jordan<\/a> had five runs of 10 yards or more in just 16 carries as he finished with 167 yards. Eli Sanders added 55 more and even walk-on King Miller broke away for another big touchdown run, his second in as many weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re making some big plays on all sides, which is great,\u201d Riley said. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019ll always be like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t, however, a banner day for USC\u2019s defense, which allowed Georgia Southern to move the ball. The secondary had several breakdowns that led to big plays for the Eagles, who finished with seven pass plays of 15 yards or more. The defense also contributed six penalties. <\/p>\n

But on a day such as Saturday, when USC\u2019s offense could do whatever it wanted, it didn\u2019t much matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still a long ways off from our best,\u201d Riley said. \u201cNot as locked on results. I have a sense of how good this team can play, and all of us as coaches, we\u2019re trying to push them to that. Don\u2019t pay so much attention to the scoreboard or stats \u2014 it wasn\u2019t our best. And do we need to just own it and get better? So far the team has done that, but we\u2019ll have to continue doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

USC was far from its best at the start. Jordan, on his second carry of the day, fumbled. Then a bad offside penalty kept Georgia Southern\u2019s drive alive and the Eagles connected on a 32-yard touchdown pass on the next play.<\/p>\n

Still, Riley went right back to Jordan on the next possession and the running back delivered, as USC rolled down the field on a scoring drive behind 41 yards from the junior.<\/p>\n

Lane punctuated the drive as Maiava lofted a pass in his direction toward the end zone. Tangled up with a Georgia Southern defender, Lane needed just a single outstretched arm to pull down the Trojans\u2019 first score.<\/p>\n

\"USC <\/p>\n

USC running back Waymond Jordan carries the ball against Georgia Southern in the third quarter Saturday at the Coliseum.<\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

USC\u2019s offense caught fire from there. The Trojans needed just two plays on their next possession to find the end zone. Then three plays on the drive after that. Both possessions ended with Lemon sprinting free for touchdowns. <\/p>\n

The first saw Lemon slip two tackles before weaving his way through the Georgia Southern secondary for a 62-yard touchdown. The second, Lemon simply turned on the jets and blew past the Eagles\u2019 defense with ease for a 74-yard score.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust capitalized off every opportunity I got today,\u201d Lemon said. \u201cTrying to impact the team in a positive way whenever I touch the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

It seemed USC might leave Georgia Southern in the dust after that, similar to how it piled up points a week ago against Missouri State. But Helton\u2019s team kept hanging around. They led four straight drives into USC territory, only to come up short on three of them.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The Trojans\u2019 firepower was simply too much to handle. USC led another quick scoring drive, this time needing just four plays before tight end Walker Lyons trotted in for a touchdown.<\/p>\n

By halftime, USC already had 415 yards, more than it tallied in six games last season, while Maiava had more than 300 passing yards and four touchdowns.<\/p>\n

It only got more lopsided after half. Jordan broke away for a 36-yard touchdown scamper. Sanders scored twice in 10 minutes of game time. Miller even got in on the fun with a breakaway touchdown, his second in two weeks.<\/p>\n

With its second-team offense in for most of the fourth quarter, USC would come up just a touchdown short of its best two-game scoring total in program history.<\/p>\n

But when the buzzer mercifully sounded, Helton strolled across the Coliseum field with a smile on his face. He snapped photos with the few players remaining that played for him. He thought back on days spent in the stadium with his youngest son, Turner, who actually finished the game as Georgia Southern\u2019s quarterback. <\/p>\n

\"Georgia <\/p>\n

Georgia Southern coach Clay Helton reacts to a call in the third quarter Saturday in his return to the Coliseum.<\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

USC had just handed him a 39-point loss, but Helton sounded gracious just to have been back in the building. He even complimented USC fans\u2019 \u201cgreat passion\u201d in booing him. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of those special places,\u201d Helton said, \u201cand you get to be a part of it and you know it\u2019s not going to last forever \u2014 you hope it does, but I got to be a part of it, and now to be back and see what Coach Riley\u2019s doing with a really good ballclub. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t wait for them to do even more great things here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a subtle gesture. A nod of respect from USC to a football coach who spent a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":207479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,113900,27229,1910,113981,113984,113983,2961,224,5337,5039,449,5395,50647,36418,11016,113982,2452,80883],"class_list":{"0":"post-207478","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-clay-helton","11":"tag-drive","12":"tag-game","13":"tag-georgia-southern","14":"tag-inferior-defense","15":"tag-jakobi-lane","16":"tag-la","17":"tag-los-angeles","18":"tag-losangeles","19":"tag-play","20":"tag-point","21":"tag-saturday","22":"tag-touchdown","23":"tag-trojans","24":"tag-usc","25":"tag-waymond-jordan","26":"tag-week","27":"tag-yard"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115162778548742600","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}