Despite criticism, USC is sticking with Miller Moss as its starting quarterback

Questions swirled since Saturday, swept up in the bitter frustration of a third straight defeat and doused in the kerosene of social media. The decision Monday to close off media access only added more fuel to the fire, as fans wondered if major change might be afoot at USC.

But when Lincoln Riley finally was asked Monday night whether Miller Moss would remain the Trojans starting quarterback, the coach left no room for interpretation. He seemed, in fact, confused by the question.

“Of course,” Riley said, without hesitation. “One hundred percent.”

With USC’s season on the brink of disaster and Rutgers on tap Friday on a short week, not everyone outside the walls of Troy has expressed the same confidence in USC’s quarterback situation. Calls to anoint the backup, dual-threat transfer Jayden Maiava, have grown louder and louder among a vocal and frustrated fan base.

Read more: His defiance gone, Lincoln Riley struggles to explain USC’s latest devastating loss

But even with the Trojans at 3-4, Riley made it quite clear he’s not entertaining that idea. Not yet, at least.

“He’s still executing at a very high level,” Riley said of Moss. “He’s making a lot of plays, a lot of really good decisions. There’s always going to be a couple mistakes, and the ones that he has certainly can’t kill us. He’s had a few that have certainly got to be better, but he’s made a lot of plays, and he’s put our guys in a lot of positions to make plays.

“Of course, I expect him to improve, and he does too, but he’s also the guy that’s put us in position to win all seven of these.”

Moss is hardly the only one who needs to improve on USC’s offense, which is scoring 11 fewer points per game than last season. The offensive line has struggled to protect him, while USC’s young receivers have been inconsistent.

Still, the Trojans have been unusually reliant on their passing attack — even as their run game exceeds expectations. Last week against Maryland, Moss threw the ball 50 times, and Riley acknowledged that’s more than he’d like. Three games earlier Moss threw 51 times, the second-highest total by a Riley-coached quarterback, in a loss in Ann Arbor.

No Big Ten quarterback has thrown the ball as much as Moss, who ranks second nationally in attempts. Mixed among those 284 throws were a number of darts delivered into impossibly narrow windows, exactly the sort of precision passes Riley expects. Moss started especially strong in the opener against Louisiana State, throwing for 378 yards and leading a game-winning drive.

But in recent weeks, with the Big Ten slate in full swing, that late-game poise has waned, while mistakes have piled up. In all four losses, Moss has thrown a critical, second-half interception that swung the momentum of the game.

On Saturday against Maryland, it struck late in the third quarter, when a USC score might have put the game away. With pressure bearing down, Moss tried to force a pass to Zachariah Branch, only to watch Maryland’s Lavain Scruggs step in front, running 51 yards with an interception before he was caught.

The week before against Penn State, Moss sailed a fourth-quarter pass to Duce Robinson with USC marching toward a potential game-winning field goal. The pass was picked off, and the Trojans lost in overtime.

Through eight starts, Moss has lost four times after leading in the fourth quarter. Those losses certainly don’t lie solely on the quarterback’s shoulders, but Moss has shouldered much of the criticism. He insists it hasn’t bothered him.

“I have a small circle of people whose opinions I care about,” Moss said. “Everyone else, you know, say what they will.”

“End of the day, like, none of that stuff really matters,” Moss said. “What matters is who you are, what your process is, who you trust and believe in each and every day. So, I mean, it’s part of the job, but it’s also — it doesn’t mean anything.”

Riley said he thought his quarterback was “in a good place” mentally Monday. His teammates echoed that sentiment.

“Miller is a really strong and tough dude mentally,” tight end Lake McRee said. “No one has to deal with more than what the quarterback does. Being close to him, seeing him on and off the field, I’m really proud of him and how he holds himself. He’s a real good leader, through thick and thin.”

Moss started the season as an inspiring tale of perseverance. But after the most recent loss, he sat slumped in his chair, staring blankly into a crowd of reporters asking questions about where the season had veered off course.

“We said at the beginning of the year we were committed to each other, no matter what, no matter what the result is,” Moss said. “I think that holds true. It’s not contingent on result.”

The results, though, haven’t been anywhere close to what USC hoped for. By Monday, after a day of speculation about his starting job, Moss had taken on a more defiant tone.

Read more: With Eric Gentry and Anthony Lucas out, USC’s defense must rely on its freshmen

The last five games, he said, taught him a lot about who he is.

“We’re all faced with a choice when we face difficult times, and I think who you are when you make that choice says a lot about who you are,” the quarterback said. “The substance of this doesn’t lie in, like, whatever the narrative is, whatever people want to say the substance is. The power, the integrity, all that stuff, that comes to people who are able to navigate difficult things, to continue to go back out there, to continue to put their work on display in front of the world, and not the people that are continuing to tear them down no matter what.”

For those people in particular, Moss offered a message.

“Obviously, people, you know, seek a lot of negativity around our team, and it is what it is,” he said. “I hope they keep that same energy going forward.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.