His pass had just been picked off, a most unfortunate turn at a most unfortunate time for USC, when Jayden Maiava took off sprinting toward the pylon.
The past month to that point hadn’t been one to remember for the Trojans quarterback. The week before, at Nebraska, Maiava completed just nine passes. Two weeks before that, he struggled through a rain-soaked loss in South Bend. This interception was his sixth in five weeks — and a pass he’d surely prefer to have back.
But as Northwestern’s Najee Story rumbled toward that same pylon with ball in hand, USC’s quarterback closed in, lowered his shoulder and catapulted his entire body toward the 288-pound defensive tackle.