O'Connor's season over, Raymond steps in at center tonight
Killian O'Connor's broken leg ends his season, so Tobias Raymond takes over at center as No. 14 USC hosts Matt Entz's Fresno State and new starter Jayden Mandal at the Coliseum.
O'Connor's season is over, so Riley leans on 'the steadiest guy in the program'
Killian O'Connor's broken leg is now official as a season-ender, and Lincoln Riley didn't try to make it sound smaller than it is. The redshirt senior, an Orange County walk-on since 2022 whom Riley put on scholarship in front of the whole team last year, went down on what Riley called "a non-contact kind of freak injury," per CBS Sports, and Riley said he wouldn't be shocked to see O'Connor voted a team captain anyway despite not playing a snap — calling him "certainly one of the leaders and kind of heartbeats of this program."
The job now belongs to Tobias Raymond, who moved over from guard and has been candid about the learning curve. "I played everything last year except center," Raymond said, adding that spring practice "kind of felt like I was a freshman all over again" at the new spot — with O'Connor still helping him through it, watching film together and talking through looks even while hurt, per Yahoo Sports. Riley's own review of the move was blunt praise: "He's one of the steadiest people and players in this program. That's the kind of guy you want leading our O-line."
Tonight is the real test. Fresno State returns 300-pound tackles Deijon Laffitte and Martin Owusu up front on a defense that finished 10th nationally last season under since-promoted associate head coach Nick Benedetto, allowing just 285.7 yards a game. Receiver R. Tezeno is also questionable for USC with a foot injury, according to Covers, which would only tighten the margin for error on a rebuilt interior line making its first real test of the year.
USC boat-raced San José State for 3 quarters, then had to survive the 4th
USC led 35-3 heading into the fourth quarter at the Coliseum and held on for a 42-26 win, though Riley wasn't interested in pretending the whole afternoon was clean. "Good to get the first one under our belt. But kind of a tale of two games for us," he said. "First three quarters, a lot of really good football out there with all three sides playing complimentary. They dominated the game for three quarters" — before San José State clawed back 23 points once the starters came off the field.
San José State42-26The newcomers carried those first three quarters. Trent Mosley, an Orange County product making his Trojan debut, caught 7 passes for 118 yards and a touchdown, while freshmen Kayden Dixon-Wyatt and Riley Wormley scored their first career touchdowns and Shahn Alston found the end zone in his own USC debut. Quarterback Jayden Maiava backed up his own hype, too, going 25-of-29 for 286 yards and 3 total touchdowns, a performance that earned him AP National Player of the Week.
By midweek Riley was still grading the tape rather than just celebrating the record. "The fourth quarter wasn't very good," he said, and pointed at the run game specifically as the fix: "We had some chances for some explosive runs. We were pretty steady in the run game but would love to pop a couple in there. We'll need to do a better job of that," he told reporters, per SI.com.
Mandal gets his 2nd start in 4 years, against the staffer Riley used to employ
Fresno State settled its own quarterback question this week. Matt Entz named Buchanan High and Fresno State grad Jayden Mandal the starter over Maryland transfer Khristian Martin, pointing to timing, accuracy and ball security as the deciding factors, per Jayden Mandal Named Fresno State Starter Vs. No. 14 USC. It's just his second career start in four years with the program, after a road back that included a November surgery for an ulnar nerve transposition on top of a UCL tear in his throwing arm, a shoulder cyst and a torn labrum, according to Yahoo Sports. Entz likes what he's gotten back, praising Mandal as someone who "does a great job of delivering the football" and is "a quick decision-maker" who can extend plays.
Riley knows the other sideline better than most opposing coaches do. Entz spent the 2024 season on Riley's own staff before taking the Fresno State job, and Riley's praise this week doubled as a warning to his own defense: "Coach Entz, as you said, obviously did a really nice job for us in his one year here. And it was good to get to know him and get around him," Riley said, per SI.com. He was even more direct about what that defense does well: "They were one of the best pass defenses in the country last year. They did a good job limiting explosive plays, yards after the catch."
Add in linebackers Tytus Khajavi (37 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, an interception and a sack) and K'Vion Thunderbird (32 tackles, three pass breakups, two interceptions) anchoring that same group, and it's little wonder Riley called the Bulldogs "gritty" and "tough" this week. He also flagged the strange shape of USC's own schedule on the short turnaround: "We'll have played two games before like 95 percent of the country has even played one, which is crazy," he said. Riley has never lost to Fresno State — a streak Mandal's second career start will try to end.
Kickoff at the Coliseum, with USC laying more than 3 touchdowns
It's Game II tonight vs. Fresno State, the second of Riley's early two-games-before-most-of-the-country stretch, and the line reflects how lopsided the roster gap looks on paper: the line opened at USC -22.5 with the total set at 51.5, a middling number for a game with this much talent difference on the depth charts.
The gap between that number and what Riley actually said this week is worth sitting with — a coach who spent his press conferences praising Fresno State's pass defense and his own opponent's ex-staffer isn't a coach expecting a laugher, whatever the board says. Between a center making his first real road-adjacent start and a quarterback making just his second in four years, tonight has more going on than the spread lets on.