HUSKER GAMEDAY: Nebraska travels west for Big Ten bout with USC

LOS ANGELES (WOWT) – A game that features two powerhouses of the 1990s and early 2000s will serve as a last stand of sorts for both squads, as Nebraska (5-4, 2-4) travels out west to sunny Los Angeles for a date with the USC Trojans (4-5, 2-5).

Coming off three straight losses, the Huskers need one more win to become bowl eligible for the first time since 2016, while USC needs two more wins to make a bowl game as Lincoln Riley attempts salvage a season that started with a bang and has since gone completely off the rails. Sound familiar?

Put simply, this is a matchup between two of college football’s biggest brands — two of the sport’s most historically dominant programs — both of whom are trying to make good on what has been a disastrous six-week stretch, and in doing so, both have made some major changes in recent days.

GAME INFO

• WHERE: L.A. Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, Calif.
• WHEN: 3 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 16
• WATCH: FOX
• LISTEN: Huskers Radio Network
• VEGAS ODDS: Nebraska +7, O/U 51.5

Nebraska’s offense has been a rough watch since starting Big Ten play, to say the least. Turnovers, penalties, and head-scratching play calls left head coach Matt Rhule with no choice but to make a change, and make it immediately.

Enter Dana Holgorsen, who has been plopped into a major role with the responsibility of righting a ship that is very wrong at the moment. Holgorsen is a Big 12 stalwart of sorts, having spent time as Oklahoma State’s offensive coordinator before being the head coach of West Virginia for seven seasons and Houston for four.

Holgorsen, a pioneer of the “air raid” offense, takes over offensive coordinator duties for Marcus Satterfield, who was demoted back to tight ends coach earlier this week. It remains to be seen what Holgorsen and Rhule have planned for Saturday, but regardless, the frontman likes what he sees so far.

“I think Dana has stepped right in,” Rhule said. “It’s still the same language. He’s adapting to everything that we do. For the players, it’s the same thing, it’s just someone new in the mix. It’s just a fresh perspective on what we were doing and I think he’s getting along well with the players.”

Meanwhile, out in Hollywood, Lincoln Riley could be staring down the barrel of another headline-stealing coaching change at USC if he doesn’t turn it around quickly. The saving grace for Riley this year, if there is one, is the fact that despite being 4-5, the Trojans haven’t lost a game by more than a touchdown. Three of those losses are by three points or less.

That didn’t stop one of the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten from leaving, though, which is why it’s possible Riley is coaching for his job in these final three games.

Quarterback Miller Moss announced earlier this week that he will enter the transfer portal at the end of the semester, hence ending his career as a USC Trojan. Moss was having a solid season, too. He ranked second in the Big Ten in passing yards, only behind Heisman candidate Dillon Gabriel of Oregon, and had thrown 18 touchdowns to just nine interceptions.

But now, like Nebraska, USC is making a major change to its identity in Week 12 of a season that has been disappointing to everyone involved. Jayden Maiava will get the nod at QB against Nebraska on Saturday — which is a must-win for the Trojans if they want to make a bowl game, considering No. 8 Notre Dame comes to town in two weeks.

Maiava started 12 games for UNLV as a true freshman in 2023, throwing for over 3,000 yards and leading the Rebels to the Mountain West Conference championship game before transferring to USC in the offseason.

Maiava’s dual-threat talent coupled with Riley’s offensive creativity figures to be a good marriage on paper, but luckily for the Huskers, unlike when a new quarterback typically steps in, there’s ample film on the sophomore signal-caller from Hawaii.

“We went back and watched [Maiava] at UNLV,” Rhule said. “He did a lot of the same things in that go-go offense there with triple-option type plays. He throws an elite deep ball. He’s just a really, really talented player. There’s a reason everyone wanted him when he went in the portal last year and now he’s getting his opportunity.”

The Husker defense will face challenges in slowing down Maiava and the Trojan offensive attack, but Big Red Nation is likely to have its focus on the other side of the ball — eager to see how Holgorsen’s presence alters the execution of Nebraska’s offense.

“We’ll go out there on Saturday and we’ll play,” Rhule said. “What I’m very sure of is that we’ll get better every single day… We’ll see on Saturday if there’s any hiccups in the process and we’ll adjust them moving forward. But this wasn’t some short-term, splash thing. [Bringing in Holgorsen] was, to me, an opportunity for us to make an epic move to push us into the next tier, and this is our first game on that push.”

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