Las Vegas Bowl brings one of the best non-playoff matchups of college football’s postseason – Las Vegas Sun News

USC finishing its season in the Las Vegas Bowl makes for a full-circle moment in more ways than one.

The Trojans will be playing at Allegiant Stadium for the second time this year when they face the Texas A&M Aggies in the 2024 edition of the annual game on December 27. They started the season in the same building by knocking off another SEC opponent, LSU, 27-20 in the Vegas Kickoff Classic.

But that was with quarterback Miller Moss, who was later benched and entered the transfer portal. Liberty High grad and former UNLV quarterback Jayden Maiava has since taken over and will make his fourth start in cardinal and gold, and first at Allegiant since the 2023 Mountain West Conference Championship Game, against Texas A&M.

“There’s a lot to learn from within these past three games that I’ve played,” Maiava said at a news conference after a 49-35 regular season-ending loss to Notre Dame. “Obviously you can’t turn the ball over in these big moments and let the team down, especially the seniors, but I’m grateful for the opportunity that coach gave me. I’m looking forward to moving forward.”

Forward momentum is what should make USC vs. Texas A&M one of the best matchups of bowl season. Bowl games have taken another hit in terms of prestige this season with the advent of the new 12-team College Football Playoff, but matchups pairing the sport’s two new super conferences (the Big Ten and SEC) will be prime attractions.

The showdown between the Trojans and Aggies is the first of four such games.

Few programs in college football are more committed from a resources standpoint than USC and Texas A&M, with both teams eyeing the expanded playoff in the years to come.

The Trojans were eliminated from contention early this season as the victory over LSU proved the high point of an otherwise forgettable 6-6 campaign. Texas A&M didn’t finish all that much better at 8-4, but were alive with a chance to reach the SEC Championship Game and earn an automatic playoff bid until a 17-7loss to rival Texas in the final week of the regular season.

“Anyone who knows the inside of this program knows and is confident in the direction this is headed,” Texas A&M coach Mike Elko said. “But that doesn’t change the fact that we had an opportunity to do something really special this year and we couldn’t close on it. So that will haunt me, that will haunt us, that will haunt the players. We had chances and we didn’t get it done. Unfortunately, that’s part of football and that’s part of life, but it doesn’t make it any easier and it doesn’t make it acceptable.”

USC might have the bigger names in the transfer portal between Moss, receiver Kyron Hudson (who had one of the catches of the year against LSU at Allegiant) and defensive tackle Bear Alexander (who left the team midseason) but Texas A&M has been affected too.

Connor Weigman, the Aggies’ original starting quarterback before being benched for Marcel Reed, and former top 100 recruit defensive lineman Mack Sylla headline Texas A&M’s list of outgoing players.

There’s been talk of both programs targeting top-tier portal talent of their own, including at quarterback, but for now it appears Reed and Maiava will have the first crack at next year’s roles. They’re both electric, as they’re as proven on the ground as runners as they are as passers.

“Especially the way (Maiava played against Notre Dame), that was the best we’ve played offensively all year,” USC coach Lincoln Riley said. “That’s a really good defense that we did some pretty good things against, so I thought he stepped up and played some really good ball. I was impressed in how he handled the whole way and how he handled our team in terms of being a leader and being a steadying presence. That’s what that position asks you to do, and I thought he answered the call.”

There’s been speculation about whether Riley will remain at USC after having so far failed to live up to the expectations of a 10-year, $110 million contract he signed three years ago.

The Trojans’ high mark under Riley to this point might have been reaching the 2022 Pac-12 Championship Game at Allegiant where the team could have claimed a spot in the old, four-team College Football Playoff. But Utah crushed USC 47-24, and it’s been all downhill for the program since then. 

Meanwhile, Elko has gotten mostly positive reviews after his first regular season on a relatively modest six-year, $42 million deal. But he took falling short of the playoff hard, saying, “It sucks and there’s no sugarcoating it. There’s no soft words around it. We had our opportunities and we didn’t get it done.”

The Las Vegas Bowl will have to suffice as a consolation. Riley said the focus of bowl week will be developing the younger parts of his roster, which is surely similar to Elko’s mindset.

Maybe those younger players will stick around and deliver one or both of these programs to the top of the sport where they ultimately envision themselves belonging.

“There are times we could have played better, sure,” Riley said. “There are times we could have coached better. Did we miss some opportunities? Yes, we did, but we laid it on the line every single week and my message to the guys was, ‘You continue to do that in your life, you continue to do that in this football program, the things you want will come.’”

This story appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.