Lincoln Riley did what he thought was necessary for his USC Trojans, who were once ranked and relevant and now are 4-5 as they play out the string in November.

The Trojans head coach confirmed during Tuesday’s weekly press conference that he’s making a change at quarterback, benching Miller Moss and going with UNLV transfer Jayden Maiava as the starter when USC resumes its rocky 2024 season on Nov. 16 against Nebraska. Riley made this tough decision during a bye week, so the Trojans offense will have some serious practice time before getting back on the field for real in 10 days.

“I said I was going to make decisions based on what was best for the team to win, and nothing’s changed. We go back and evaluate like we do every single game. We have two good players in the room, and when we went back and looked at it, we felt it was in the best interest of the team to give Jayden a chance here. It’s that simple,” said Riley.

On the surface, Moss’s numbers this season don’t look that bad. He’s thrown for 2,555 yards and 18 touchdowns. But then there’s the interceptions, 9 of them in 2024, including 3 in last Saturday’s loss at Washington that dropped the Trojans back under .500.

And there’s the recent blown leads. USC let games against Minnesota, Penn State and Maryland slip away on consecutive weeks in October, which turned a solid 3-1 record into a 3-4 headache for Riley. So the head coach made the change to Maiava, who threw for 3,085 yards with 17 touchdowns and 10 interceptions last season at UNLV. He also rushed for 277 yards and 3 TDs.

“I want to say Miller Moss has done a really good job for us,” said Riley. “You could literally not change one thing Miller’s done, and we could be sitting here with a really, really good record right now. Miller’s done a very good job, he’s been a really good leader for this team, he’s been loyal to this program, he has worked hard, and he has done a lot of really good things on the football field.

“So, this is not a reflection of anything more than we have another really good player in the room, and we felt like he gives us a good opportunity. (Jayden has) improved every single week. I think he’s learned a lot from having a guy like Miller in the room that is smart and understands our offense as good as Miller does. … We’re excited to get Jayden this opportunity.”

That opportunity will come in Week 12 at home against Nebraska.