Las Vegas Bowl brings ex-UNLV quarterback back to face SEC team

Former UNLV quarterback Jayden Maiava is coming back to Las Vegas.

He’ll return with USC (6-6) to face Texas A&M (8-4) in the Las Vegas Bowl at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 27 at Allegiant Stadium.

The news was announced by Las Vegas Bowl executive director John Saccenti at UNLV’s Fertitta Football Complex on Sunday.

Two Las Vegas-style show girls holding helmets of the respective teams stood on each side of Saccenti as he opened his remarks.

“Sincere apologies for the delay here,” Saccenti began. “It’s been a little bit of a hectic morning, with some changes in the teams within the College Football Playoff and reshaping and reshuffling of other teams.”

The announcement came an hour later than expected. Saccenti and representatives from multiple conferences had to reckon with Alabama being left out of the CFP, while UNLV dealt with the news of football coach Barry Odom leaving for Purdue.

USC is in its first year in the Big Ten but satisfies the Las Vegas Bowl’s tie-in with former Pac-12 teams.

An SEC school was bound to be the other team represented in the Las Vegas Bowl, but Alabama wasn’t in the running to replace Texas A&M. The SEC just wanted all of its announcements to be set in stone at the same time, Saccenti said.

For USC coach Lincoln Riley, the Las Vegas Bowl isn’t being taken lightly.

“We were talking to him, and I get the sense that this game is very important for Lincoln,” Saccenti said. “He admitted that the season probably didn’t go the way that they planned.”

Maiava transferred to USC after being named Mountain West freshman of the year last season while leading the Rebels to the conference title game. The Liberty High graduate became the Trojans’ starter after Miller Moss was benched following a 4-5 start.

When asked if Maiava’s return to Las Vegas gave the matchup more “juice,” Saccenti pointed to USC featuring other players with Las Vegas ties on its roster. The brother duo of wide receiver Zachariah Branch and safety Zion Branch and defensive end Garrett Pomerantz are all former Bishop Gorman players.

“Certainly, that wasn’t any kind of deciding factor. That just kind of worked out our way, but it’ll definitely be an interesting storyline,” Saccenti said of Maiava.

Texas A&M lost to Texas in its regular-season finale, missing a chance to advance to the SEC title game.

Texas A&M and USC have met just three times in the history of their programs, with the latest matchup taking place in 1977. The Trojans lead the series 3-0.

The matchup met multiple desires of the Las Vegas Bowl, which took notice of the record-crowd USC and LSU brought to Allegiant Stadium for the Trojans’ season-opening win.

With a reported 63,969 fans, the event was more attended than Super Bowl LVIII, which previously held the record at 61,629.

“Obviously, USC has a lot of fans here in Las Vegas,” Saccenti said. “It’s a nice, easy drive for us at the end of the day. That was one of the deciding factors with the Christmas holiday, was getting a team that can drive in here.”

Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.