LINCOLN — Offensive lineman Elijah Paige started at left tackle against Nebraska on Saturday night, marking the first time he participated in a game since the Week 4 contest against Michigan State.
Paige and center Kilian O’Connor were both listed as questionable on Saturday’s official Big Ten Conference availability report. Both warmed up for the game, but only Paige started. J’Onre Reed started at center.
Paige has been dealing with a lower-body injury and O’Connor, who hasn’t played since the Illinois game in Week 5, had had a knee injury.
Lincoln Riley addressed the health of the offensive line during media availability on Tuesday.
“We’ve got a couple guys that are close,” head coach Lincoln Riley told reporters. “It’s also dealing with a couple of nagging things that have held us back.
“We’ve tried to be careful about pouring a bunch of reps into a unit, and then you end up playing with a different one. If that happens, if there’s an injury in a game, that’s just part of it. We’re trying to keep as much continuity there as we can.”
Despite having an experienced lineman back, USC went into halftime trailing 14-6. Quarterback Jayden Maiava went 6-for-16 passing for 57 yards and the rushing attack collected 121 yards on the ground.
Team captains
Linebacker Garrison Madden, tight end Lake McRee, offensive lineman Tobias Raymond, defensive lineman Devan Thompkins and linebacker Eric Gentry were named team captains for Saturday evening’s game.
It’s the first game all season that quarterback Maiava hasn’t been a team captain, as well as the first time that Madden has been a captain. Gentry is the only player out of the group who has been a captain in every game.
Madden is primarily a special teams player with 89 total snaps in that capacity. He was chosen as a Core Value player — someone who represents three values of Unify, Sacrifice and Championship Culture — by USC in the first week of July.
College GameDay picks
Three out of four hosts on ESPN’s College GameDay picked Nebraska to win on Saturday morning.
Desmond Howard and Nick Saban both predicted that USC would win the game, while Kirk Herbstreit, Pat McAfee and Alex Smith, a guest on the show, all chose Nebraska.
“I like USC in this game,” Saban said on the show. “I think USC’s got tremendous skill guys. I think they can score points. I don’t think Nebraska’s great on defense, and I think that may be the difference.”