For the first time as Big Ten opponents, UCLA football (4-6, 3-5 Big Ten) will take on USC (5-5, 3-5) on Saturday evening at the Rose Bowl. Prior to kickoff, Daily Bruin Sports editor Ira Gorawara sat down with Daily Trojan Sports editors Leila Mackenzie and Henry Mode to discuss this year’s showdown.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Daily Bruin: USC was ranked 23rd in the country to start the season, a big win against LSU in its first game in Vegas. The Trojans have since gone 5-5 on the season, 3-5 in the Big Ten. What are your general thoughts on how this season’s unfolded so far?

Henry Mode: Some people’s expectations were pretty high for the season. I always thought the season was going to be really difficult. Heading into such a difficult conference and losing your best player, Caleb Williams, people were confident in (quarterback) Miller Moss, but obviously it didn’t work out super well. But I think whenever you’re losing talent and going up against harder competition, it’s going to be really difficult. I think they’ve really struggled on the road this year. I think Big Ten road games are kind of a different beast. I think it’ll be the same for all the West Coast schools. That’s going to be hard at first, and I think the more you do it, the easier it’ll be. So I think that’s been a big part of it. And I think with the Big Ten experience, the new teams will do better next year.

Leila Mackenzie: Yeah, I agree it takes time to acclimate, especially when you’re really taking a step above what you’re accustomed to. Even though the Pac-12 was really strong last year, it’s just a totally different structure to how the season goes. And like Henry said, the road games are difficult, and it’s reflected in their ability to perform on the road. Thinking about that first game, how they ended up winning it on a game-winning drive at the end of the fourth quarter, and then as the season continued, it was kind of the opposite narrative where they seemed very indisciplined, especially at the end of games, and they’ve been really good at blowing it at every opportunity – or creating opportunities to blow it for themselves, and that has been definitely an interesting shift in the narrative for the season. But it should be interesting, especially with the new quarterback, and I’m looking toward next year.

DB: Both of you talked about the quarterback situation. Obviously, USC has long been known for its standout quarterbacks – Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart and Caleb Williams – all in this century. Miller Moss took over Williams’ role but was obviously benched before Nebraska. Can you talk about Moss’ first nine games and (quarterback) Jayden Maiava’s first start?

LM: I thought Miller Moss starting the season was kind of interesting. Obviously, he had a really good performance at the Holiday Bowl last year, and it seemed like that was a good opportunity for him to instill some kind of trust in his receivers. And he really just took over the position before the season even began. But he doesn’t really seem like a (coach) Lincoln Riley-esque quarterback. I mean, Riley’s always had people that have been very versatile and not super systematic, even though sometimes, I think in USC’s history, that’s kind of what they’ve been going for. But Caleb Williams and Miller Moss, I don’t think are comparable. Obviously, Miller Moss isn’t a Heisman-winning quarterback, but just in terms of style, I think they’re very different. And I think Lincoln Riley underestimated how much he was going to have to change the style of his offense coming into the season. I think Jayden Maiava opens up an opportunity for Lincoln Riley to kind of return back to what he’s accustomed to and how he’s built his career over the course of the decade that he’s been head coaching teams.

HM: Yeah, I mean, I sort of thought it was a mistake from the start not to have a proper quarterback competition. I think Miller just kind of got anointed after the Holiday Bowl, and there was never a real competition, even though I just think it would have been better that way, even if Miller did end up winning it in camp. I think Maiava looked good against Nebraska. I think he adds another dimension to the offense. I think Lincoln’s offenses always look better when there’s a mobile quarterback that can extend plays, just because it helps when the RPO stuff gets stale. I think that they just landed a quarterback recruit yesterday who I think looks really promising, and he’s also really mobile. So I think he and Maiava next year – presuming Miller declares for the draft – that’s a really exciting quarterback room, and I think one that’s really dynamic, and I think that’s always going to work better in Lincoln’s offense, whether it’s Kyler (former quarterback Kyler Murray) or Caleb – or even (former quarterback) Baker Mayfield is more mobile than Miller. A stagnant pocket pass is never going to look good. So I think the quarterback room going forward with Maiava and this new guy Longstreet (incoming freshman quarterback Husan Longstreet), it’s a better fit for Lincoln.

DB: Lincoln Riley was 19-8 through his first two full seasons, 5-5 this year. He’s a high-profile coach – someone who was expected to do big things with the team this year – but faces continuous and pretty intense scrutiny week by week. What’s your guys’ rundown on his coaching ability, and does he deserve the backlash he gets?

LM: I mean, obviously, USC holds their head coaches to a really high standard, especially when he’s got a really fat contract. But I grew up a Michigan fan, so I always compare his trajectory – or his starting situation at USC – to Jim Harbaugh’s in Michigan, where the first season was definitely a big jump from the pits that they’d been in the years past and how those really contradicted a program with a pretty strong legacy. And then after a pretty impressive first season, there’s kind of a dip, and then they got to recruit their own players, and it’s like, OK, they’re going to form their own team now. This is the time where they really make the jump from being maybe a top-10, -15 team to somebody who’s competing for national championship – and then the opposite happens, and there’s a big step back. I think it just takes time to really change the culture of a school. And I’m sitting here optimistic about Lincoln Riley, especially because I know they’re not going to buy him out. That’d be a lot of money. And because he is such a high profile coach, they’re going to let him have his time. So I’m not disappointed. I’ve seen it before, and it’s going to turn into something great – perhaps a national championship. Perhaps.

HM: I’m a little more pessimistic than Leila about Lincoln. I think that he is trying to change the culture. I’m not sure he’s doing it in a good way. There was an article in the Orange County Register recently about how they’ve just done such a bad job recruiting in California, especially Southern California, and that’s just not something that fits in within the culture of the team. There’s so much talent in the area, and they’ve done a really poor job recruiting locally. They had been to Mater Dei once in the past year, and I think not taking advantage of the local talent and using that, using the brand of USC, to build the culture of the team, I think that’s a big mistake. I just think there’s not as much talent on the team as there should be, considering how high-profile he is as a coach and how much talent there is in the area. I think they’re not taking advantage of it enough. I also think because he’s known as an offensive genius, sometimes when the play-calling is bad, he doesn’t get as much backlash as maybe he should. I don’t think it’s been too bad this season, but I think last season with Caleb, I personally thought the play-calling was pretty limited at times. So I think when you have a quarterback that talented, you need to open it up a bit more. But obviously, he’s a very good coach, and again, like Leila said, they’re not going to pay a billion dollars to buy him out, so I think you stick with him and let him figure it out, because you’re not going to get someone who has a higher ceiling as a coach. I just think they need to have a bit of a reckoning this offseason about how they’re going to reach it because I’m not sure they’re approaching it the right way.

DB: There’s been a lot of chatter about USC’s defense this year, which seems to be a repeated shortcoming for the Trojans. Tell me about former UCLA defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn’s impact on the defense.

LM: I think people really underestimate just how bad the USC defense was last year. Like, we talk about it and we say, (former defensive coordinator) Alex Grinch obviously got fired midway through the season. That was the talking point on campus every week. How did we let up 40 points, 50 points, week in, week out. How are we scoring 50 points and still losing every game? It would be fourth-and-short, and they’d be lined up like 15 yards from the line of scrimmage, that kind of thing. They couldn’t tackle anybody, and they had some really good transfers and they actually had good talent, and there was absolutely no scheme in place to maximize any of it. And then I think going into the season, the switch was pretty evident, even the first game that D’Anton Lynn, there was some kind of discipline back there. Now, sure, they’ve blown however many fourth-quarter leads this season, but at the end of the day, they’re holding opponents to 20 points, they’re just really not holding their own on offense, and they’re letting the defense get tired out there as well. I mean, three-and-out, three-and-out, three-and-out. What are you going to do? You get tired. So this is definitely a step up from last season. I think it just takes time, once again, to rebrand the culture of your team.

HM: Yeah, I think D’Anton has done a really nice job with the defense actually. They’re putting the team in positions to win, which they just weren’t doing last season. For their five and five, they’ve lost four road games in the Big Ten. But I think Caleb looks at this team and is like, “If I had that defense, we’re going to the playoff last year.” The defense is so much better this year. The offense just hasn’t been able to capitalize. I think that the scheme has been really good – D’Anton coming over from UCLA has really, like Leila said, there’s more discipline, and the scheme fits well with the roster. Also, (defensive back) Kamari Ramsey coming from UCLA, for me, has been a standout player on the defense. He’s incredible and should be around next year too. And I think adding more blue-chip talent on the defense is really important, especially in the trenches. Just the last couple seasons, there’s not been a lot of productive pass rushing. And there’s just no one on the USC defensive line that you really fear – that was supposed to be (defensive lineman) Bear Alexander, but he ended up being super unproductive, and now he’s leaving. So yeah, blue-chip talent on the defensive line would help a lot. And that’s the tricky thing about having such a tough season – like, I think they had two five-star defensive linemen decommit, so I think there are consequences to having a bad year like this, and I think it’s going to make it harder for them to add talent on the defense, which they really need to do.

DB: OK, let’s get the overall score predictions from both of you.

LM: I say 32-28 USC.

HM: I’m going to go 26-18 USC.