Sports
Nepotism in sports broadcasting: 'A tremendous advantage,' but 'what do you do with it?'
When Jac Collinsworth, at just 27 years old, debuted on the prestigious job as NBC’s play-by-play voice for Notre Dame football in September 2022, he succeeded one of the most decorated announcers in sports, Mike Tirico.
To receive such a position suggested he was a sportscasting prodigy, but from his first game — when Marshall upset Notre Dame — Collinsworth did not sound like he deserved the national stage in this role. He lacked precision and rhythm, and he kept saying, “Mmm, hmm,” a bad habit that usually is eradicated with years of practice.
The focus on Collinsworth only grew last year, especially during a flat performance with his partner, Jason Garrett, on a Notre Dame-USC prime-time game in October.
Underlying all the criticism is that Collinsworth’s father, Cris, is NBC’s top NFL analyst, showcased on “Sunday Night Football” and in five Super Bowl broadcasts. Jac also appears on the SNF pregame show as an on-site reporter/host, among other roles at the network.
Any son or daughter who goes into the family business is stamped with the nepotism label. Jac Collinsworth’s case was no different, but the attention grew as he floundered.
Though Collinsworth, after graduating from Notre Dame in 2017, had success at ESPN as a reporter and then on the sidelines and hosting for NBC Sports, his failure on the Fighting Irish games caused the man responsible for the move in the first place, Sam Flood, the president of production for NBC Sports, to finally remove Collinsworth from the role last month, admitting his mistake as Collinsworth did not have the requisite play-by-play reps yet for such a large assignment.
Jac Collinsworth, Cris Collinsworth and Flood all declined requests to be interviewed.
Jac Collinsworth working the Chargers-Bills game before Christmas with Tony Dungy, center, and Rodney Harrison. (Kirby Lee / USA Today)
Sportscasting is filled with father-and-son stories of succession. There are more successes than failures — and to be clear, Jac Collinsworth should not be put in either category just yet; especially at 29. He is just not alone.
This offseason, in Oakland, the A’s hired 24-year-old Chris Caray, a fourth-generation broadcaster dating back to his great-grandfather Harry. In Toronto, 23-year-old Ben Shulman, son of Dan, is joining the Blue Jays radio booth, just a door over from his father, who calls TV for the team along with his ESPN work.
There is a long list of sons and daughters following their parents into sportscasting from Mike Golic Sr. and Jr. to Karl and Sam Ravech to Kevin Harlan and Olivia Harlan Dekker.
And the trend is nothing new, as Fox Sports, after luring the NFL from CBS in the mid-1990s, hired three sons of famous play-by-play broadcasters — Joe Buck (son of Jack, voice of the St. Louis Cardinals and national football and baseball broadcasts), Kenny Albert (son of Marv, the legendary NBA play-by-play voice) and Thom Brennaman (son of Marty, the former voice of the Cincinnati Reds).
Like Fox three decades ago, NBC has shown a penchant for sportscasting offspring from Collinsworth to Chris Simms, son of Phil, and Noah Eagle, son of Ian.
Collinsworth’s demotion opened the door further for Noah Eagle to continue to rise. Eagle, who is just 27, excelled on Big Ten Saturday prime-time games and the NFL playoffs in his first season with NBC.
Next season and beyond, he and his analyst, Todd Blackledge, will continue on the Big Ten, but, in a given week, if Notre Dame is the top game on the network, the duo will slide over to that matchup.
Eagle has started on a path reminiscent of Buck’s, but the issue of nepotism in the booth is complicated.
When Joe Buck talks to kids who want to become a sportscaster, he often falls back on an old joke.
“My advice is to start with a famous father,” Buck told The Athletic.
Buck is often cited as the quintessential example of sportscasting nepotism, but he is also probably its greatest success story. His dad, Jack Buck, is one of the most legendary play-by-play announcers in history and, at 54, Joe has matched his father, if not exceeded his accomplishments.
Joe Buck has already called 24 World Series and six Super Bowls on TV. Jack called two World Series and one Super Bowl on the medium, while also being a constant soundtrack as the radio voice on both events.
Growing up in St. Louis, by the time Joe turned 6, he began studying how his dad prepared for MLB and NFL broadcasts.
At 12, Joe was calling games into a cassette recorder in an empty TV booth in the press box at Busch Stadium. On the drive home, he and his dad would listen back and Joe would learn. With Jack doing the reviews, it was as if a raspy-voiced Mozart was giving feedback to a teenage violinist.
Joe Buck (right), with Cris Collinsworth (left) and Troy Aikman on the call for Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville, Fla., in February 2005. (Frank Micelotta / Getty Images)
By 21, Buck was slated to be in the Cardinals’ main booth, but before he could call a game, he had tears in his eyes.
He was still living at home when he opened the biggest newspaper in St. Louis, the Post-Dispatch, and saw that its respected media critic, Dan Caesar, had written a column about how nepotism helped Buck land the job.
In June 1990, Caesar wrote: “The burning question is why is Joe Buck, at age 21, being force-fed to Cardinals fans? The reason is simple, and it’s spelled B-U-C-K.”
It hurt Buck, but he knew it wasn’t wrong.
“While it crushed my soul reading about how off-putting my hiring was, he was right,” Buck said. “I remember crying about it.”
Buck said he felt like he was in a race but was beginning behind the starting line. While recognizing he had the advantages of an apprenticeship from the earliest of ages, he realized he had the job in large part because of his last name.
Over the years, even as Buck has often come across as the most confident guy in the booth, that insecurity drove him — and still does — because he always knew there would be those who felt his accomplishments were due to his dad’s Hall of Fame credentials.
“It was a gift that I got from Dan to be given a window into what people think,” Buck said. “It’s human nature. ‘Oh well, we know how he got the job.’”
Today, with social media, it is even more difficult, Buck said, because everyone’s a critic.
“It makes it really hard to kind of get your legs,” Buck said.
Eagle has done well under the same NBC umbrella as Collinsworth, but it comes from being credible on the broadcast.
“For Noah Eagle, he’s been meteoric, and he’s obviously worked really hard at this and put in the hours,” Buck said. “I think all of us — and it’s a big group — had the advantage of being around it as a kid. I think there’s something to that.”
Noah Eagle first thought he wanted to be a sportscaster at 13. Less than a decade later, he was sitting in front of one of the richest people in the world — Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer — for 90 minutes in a conference room in the Seattle area, overlooking Mount Rainier and Lake Washington, in an attempt to land a job on Ballmer’s broadcast team.
In college, Noah did his best to be his own person — almost too much. Since his father and his mother, Alisa, both attended Syracuse, he was at first reluctant to go there but ultimately decided it was the right place for him. Once he got there, though, he tried to hide his last name. He would introduce himself as just “Noah.”
“I wanted to be like Cher or Madonna or Beyonce, you know. I just wanted to be ‘Noah,’ period,” Noah said.
He didn’t want the perception that any opportunity was because of his father, who is considered one of the best broadcasters in all of sports and will call the Final Four this year.
Halfway through Noah’s time at Syracuse, Ian told his son that he should embrace who he is, not run from it.
“I respected the fact that Noah wanted to be his own person when he got to Syracuse but reminded him to be proud of his last name,” Ian said.
“For Noah Eagle, he’s been meteoric, and he’s obviously worked really hard at this and put in the hours,” fellow broadcaster Joe Buck says. (James Black / Icon Sportswire via AP Images)
By his senior year, Noah had the respect of Olivia Stomski, an Emmy Award-winning sports producer who heads Syracuse’s Newhouse School’s sports media center. She had a contact with the Clippers, who were looking for candidates after longtime TV play-by-play voice Ralph Lawler retired.
Stomski recommended Eagle and Drew Carter, Eagle’s classmate, who is now part of the Boston Celtics’ broadcast crew. The Clippers liked each of their tapes but preferred Eagle’s and invited him out to Los Angeles for an initial interview.
Stomski said the Clippers knew this was Ian’s son, but it was Noah they were deciding on.
“I would say very little, if any,” Stomski said when asked Ian’s impact. “I know for a fact they didn’t call Ian. Ian didn’t call anyone else. If anyone was pushing, it was probably me.”
After Noah Eagle aced the first interview, he advanced to meet Ballmer, the Clippers’ owner. The two went back-and-forth with Eagle even having the chops to disagree on some points with Ballmer.
Eagle ended up receiving the radio job, not the TV one. It allowed him to have four years of play-by-play in the second-biggest market in the country.
This has led to calling Nickelodeon’s well-received Slimetime broadcasts, including for this year’s Super Bowl, and then landing NBC’s top college football job. He’s also called games for Fox Sports.
The four years of 82 games on radio and the playoffs gave Eagle the reps for the national stage. He then handed the Clippers job off.
“My biggest goal was that I would do a good enough job that other people would be more willing in the future to hire younger people,” Eagle said. “I would basically go out there and they would know a 22-year-old can get this done. And so the most pride that I’ve had, it literally did not come from the four years that I was there. It came from the fact that they hired another 22-year-old after me.”
At 22, Carlo Jiménez, right out of USC, succeeded Eagle as the radio voice of the Clippers. Jiménez’s dad is a professor at Santa Clara, teaching ceramics, and works in academic advising, while his mother is chief revenue officer for a tech startup. With an assist from Eagle, Jiménez has quickly leveled the playing field and is honing his craft on a big stage.
“I think it gives you a tremendous advantage,” Buck said of being the son of a famous sportscaster. “But then the question is, ‘What do you do with it?’”
(Top photo of Jac Collinsworth: Dylan Buell / Getty Images)
This is the fourth entry in a five-part series about the state of the New York Giants. Within “Giants 2025,” we will examine the talent on the roster, the team’s positions of need, their pathways to improvement, the players they could target in the offseason and finally, the people charged with restoring this franchise to its former glory.
As the New York Giants pondered taking a quarterback in the first round of this year’s NFL Draft, the team’s brass reviewed the spotty recent history of top picks at the position in a “Hard Knocks” scene. As coach Brian Daboll rattled through the list of first-round busts over the past 10 years, general manager Joe Schoen asked for the takeaway from the review.
“Take a (C.J.) Stroud,” Daboll replied dryly about the Texans quarterback named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year after being the No. 2 pick in the 2023 draft.
If only it was that simple. As the Giants prepare to dive into the quarterback pool of the 2025 NFL Draft, they’ll do so fully aware there are no assurances whoever they pick will have a Stroud-like effect on their franchise. Recent history shows it’s rare for a rookie quarterback to engineer a turnaround like Stroud in Houston or 2024 No. 2 pick Jayden Daniels this season in Washington.
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The reason for that is obvious: Top picks generally go to bad teams. So, no matter the rookie quarterback’s talent, it’s a tall task to single-handedly transform a doormat into a contender overnight.
That point is further emphasized by the top picks, like Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield, who were dumped by their first team only to find success elsewhere later in their careers. Those cases reinforce the importance of the external factors around a young quarterback.
The Giants are on track to land the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft. That will allow them to choose between Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and
Part I: How many building blocks can one of the league’s worst rosters actually have?
Part II: Salary cap shouldn’t stand in way of improvement; NY has money to spend
Part III: Free-agent targets include bridge QB, help for Dexter Lawrence, true No. 1 CB
Coaching staff
No one formula guarantees success for a rookie quarterback. But some important ingredients typically help a young QB thrive.
The offensive coaching staff might be the most important element. Daniels has excelled under offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, who was the Cardinals’ head coach when 2019 No. 1 pick Kyler Murray won NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
“It always looks like Jayden has an answer no matter what you do,” NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger told The Athletic. “If you go blitz-zero on him, he knows where he wants to go with the ball. He’s an elite athlete. He can escape, and he can rescue some plays. But I feel like built into the offense, they always have a check-down some place where he can just get the ball out of his hands and get the ball to a receiver — maybe break a tackle, maybe pick up a first down — but at least get a completion where you can build confidence in your player.”
Meanwhile, dysfunctional coaching situations and suspect schemes have derailed elite prospects like 2021 No. 1 pick Trevor Lawrence in Jacksonville and 2024 No. 1 pick Caleb Williams in Chicago as rookies.
“(The Bears) fired the offensive coordinator first, then they elevated the quarterbacks coach to be the offensive coordinator, so now he has that,” Baldinger said. “Then they fired the head coach and elevated the offensive coordinator now to head coach. Now he’s splitting his duties between coaching Caleb, which he was doing full time, to now he’s got to coach the whole team. So that’s a disaster.”
It’s tricky to forecast the Giants’ coaching situation. Daboll oversaw the development of Josh Allen from a raw prospect to an MVP-caliber quarterback after getting picked No. 7 by the Bills in 2018.
Daboll’s track record with Allen was a major selling point when he was hired by the Giants in 2022. But the Giants haven’t drafted a quarterback in Daboll’s three years on the job. Some initial success with 2019 first-round pick Daniel Jones deteriorated rapidly. Now, Daboll may not be around to mentor Sanders or Ward because of how catastrophically the Giants have failed in the past two seasons.
“I feel like Brian has concepts that are good that can work,” Baldinger said. “I feel like if you gave him really good pieces, I think he could be a good game planner and build a good offense around (a rookie QB).”
Moving on from Daboll and Schoen would provide a complete reset, allowing the three most important individuals in the organization to be on the same timeline as they are in Washington. That would avoid the current mess in Chicago, where Williams will have a third head coach and a GM on the hot seat to start his second season.
If the Giants fire Daboll, they need to prioritize hiring the best head coach to lead the entire team. But there’s an obvious appeal to landing a coach with an offensive background as they prepare to shepherd in a new quarterback. Because if a defensive-minded coach hires an offensive coordinator, that assistant will become a coveted head-coaching candidate if he has success developing the Giants’ quarterback. Washington could face that problem as Kingsbury rebuilds his profile through Daniels’ success.
“If he’s proven to be good, you’re going to lose him,” Baldinger said. “Now you’re changing coordinators, and you’re changing the offense for that guy. I feel like a young quarterback needs an offensive coordinator head coach.”
Supporting cast
The supporting cast is another key component to helping a young quarterback succeed. Drake Maye has flashed the potential that made him the third pick in this year’s draft, but the results have been lackluster due to the Patriots’ dearth of offensive talent.
A new Giants quarterback will inherit some talent at the skill positions, headlined by Malik Nabers, who looks like a No. 1 wide receiver after an impressive rookie season. Rookie running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. has also shown promise. But the playmakers could use an upgrade to better support a rookie quarterback.
“I like Tyrone Tracy a lot. I think he’s good,” Baldinger said. “It doesn’t look like (Darius) Slayton will come back. I don’t know what they’re doing with Jalin Hyatt. I thought Hyatt had some ability. But you’re basically looking at a decent slot receiver (Wan’Dale Robinson) and then Malik. I think (tight end) Theo Johnson can be OK.”
Perhaps more important to a young quarterback’s success than his weapons is his protection. Armed with the most cap space in the NFL, the Commanders overhauled their offensive line this offseason. They signed center Tyler Biadasz and left guard Nick Allegretti while adding left tackle Brandon Coleman in the third round of the draft.
The Giants’ offensive line progressed from historically bad to functional this season. That’s a step in the right direction, but only left tackle Andrew Thomas, who has an increasingly concerning injury history, is a top-tier lineman.
The Giants figure to run it back with veterans Jon Runyan at left guard and Jermaine Eluemunor at right tackle, with 2023 second-round pick John Michael Schmitz at center. That’s a serviceable core, but there aren’t any Pro Bowlers in that group. Right guard is a weakness that needs to be addressed this offseason.
“I would invest, maybe not a first-round pick, in getting a really good player on the offensive line. Maybe you look in free agency,” Baldinger said. “They’ve had injuries every year. I would make sure I’m at least seven-deep with veteran players.”
There are other factors, like having strong leadership and a quality defense, that are valuable complements to a young quarterback. The Giants’ leadership void has been exposed this season after losing some of their most respected voices in the locker room. Adding a veteran like the Commanders did with future Hall of Fame linebacker Bobby Wagner would be beneficial.
The Giants’ defense hasn’t been a disaster this season, but it’s not a formidable unit. More upgrades will be needed on that side of the ball to relieve some pressure from a young quarterback.
Schoen’s sales pitch to ownership undoubtedly will be that the team is a quarterback away from contending. And that if the right quarterback is plugged in, they can take off like the Commanders did with Daniels this season.
But that type of success is rare. A review of first-round quarterbacks picked by teams with four or fewer wins in the past 10 drafts shows it’s uncommon to see immediate team success.
No quick fix
| QB | Year | Pick No. | Team | Previous record | Rookie record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2024 |
2 |
Commanders |
4-13 |
10-5 |
|
|
2024 |
3 |
Patriots |
4-13 |
2-8 (3-12) |
|
|
2023 |
2 |
Texans |
3-13 |
9-6 (10-7) |
|
|
2023 |
4 |
Colts |
4-12 |
2-2 (9-8) |
|
|
2021 |
1 |
Jaguars |
1-15 |
3-14 |
|
|
2021 |
2 |
Jets |
2-14 |
3-10 (4-13) |
|
|
2020 |
1 |
Bengals |
2-14 |
2-7-1 (4-11-1) |
|
|
2019 |
1 |
Cardinals |
3-13 |
5-10-1 |
|
|
2018 |
1 |
Browns |
0-16 |
6-7 (7-8-1) |
|
|
2017 |
2 |
Bears |
3-13 |
4-8 (5-11) |
|
|
2015 |
1 |
Buccaneers |
2-14 |
6-10 |
|
|
2015 |
2 |
Titans |
2-14 |
3-9 (3-13) |
(This table doesn’t include teams that traded up to the top of the draft since they weren’t in the same situation as the Giants in the previous season. The team’s overall season record is in parenthesis when a quarterback didn’t start every game as a rookie.)
The Giants can only dream about drafting a quarterback as good as Joe Burrow. But not even the NFL’s current passing leader was able to turn around the moribund Bengals immediately. Burrow went 2-7-1 in 10 starts before tearing his ACL during his rookie season in 2020. He led the Bengals to a 10-6 record and a trip to the Super Bowl in his second season after the team added All-Pro wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase in the first round of the 2021 draft and star pass rusher Trey Hendrickson in free agency during the 2021 offseason.
Obviously, the goal is to land a quarterback who can perform at the level of Burrow for the next decade. But this exercise is designed to examine how well the Giants are positioned to facilitate an instant turnaround with a rookie quarterback.
It’s impossible to project how NFL-ready Sanders or Ward are at this point, so we can only evaluate the situation they’ll be joining. The Giants have some pieces in place to facilitate a rookie quarterback’s success, but there are some big questions — most notably with the coaching staff — that need to be addressed.
(Photo illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; photos of Andrew Thomas, Tyrone Tracy Jr., Malik Nabers and Joe Schoen: Cooper Neill, Luke Hales, Todd Kirkland and Bryan Bennett / Getty Images)
Sports
NBA legend Isiah Thomas thankful for 'prayers and the love' amid private battle with Bell's palsy
Two-time NBA champion Isiah Thomas opened up about his personal health.
During a recent appearance on former NBA coach Mark Jackson’s “Come And Talk 2 Me” podcast, Thomas revealed he was diagnosed with Bell’s palsy.
The condition resulted in his facial muscles drooping.
“I’ve gotten a lot of love from people saying, ‘Well, Isiah’s sick. What is he going through?’” he said. “I haven’t really told anybody, but I’ve got Bell’s palsy. … That’s why you see me like this. I appreciate the prayers and the love. That’s what’s happening with my mouth right now. I just wanted everyone to know that.”
Retired NBA player Isiah Thomas onstage during “From The Hardwood to the Board Room: A Conversation with Isiah Thomas” at the 2023 ForbesBLK Summit at Southern Exchange Ballrooms Nov. 6, 2023, in Atlanta. (Paras Griffin/WireImage)
According to the Mayo Clinic, Bell’s palsy is a neurological condition that can cause muscles on one side of the face to suddenly weaken. People diagnosed with Bell’s palsy experience symptoms ranging from mild to severe.
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A smile could appear one-sided and the eye on the affected side could be difficult to close. Over time, the condition can improve.
Team Isiah head coach Isiah Thomas is introduced during the 2022 NBA Rising Stars Challenge at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland Feb. 18, 2022. (Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports)
Thomas is not the first former or current NBA player who has dealt with Bell’s palsy. Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers said he was diagnosed with the condition ahead of April’s playoff series against the New York Knicks.
Basketball Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas during the second half of a game between the Phoenix Suns and the Cleveland Cavaliers at Footprint Center in Phoeniz, Ariz., April 3, 2024. (Joe Camporeale/USA Today Sports)
Embiid averaged 33 points during the series.
Thomas spent his entire NBA career with the Detroit Pistons, earning 12 All-Star team nods. He was named the NBA Finals MVP in 1990.
After he retired, Thomas made the leap to coaching and spent time leading the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks. He also coached at the collegiate level.
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LAS VEGAS — It was less than four months ago, at the start of his third and most consequential season yet as USC’s coach, that Lincoln Riley walked off this same field at Allegiant Stadium, brimming with belief. His new quarterback had come through. His rebuilt defense had delivered. The statement he’d been searching for finally seemed to arrive in a season-opening win over Louisiana State.
“We know what we’ve been building,” Riley said that night. “I know we’re making progress.”
By late December, any signs of that progress had long since disappeared, and confidence in USC’s coach had faded along with it, lost along the way through a frustrating season that ended Friday night right back where it began.
But after a campaign filled with frustrating fourth-quarter collapses, the Trojans were able to return, however briefly, to the form they found back in September, coming from behind to beat Texas A&M in the Las Vegas Bowl 35-31 to finish their season 7-6.
The bookends bore some striking resemblance, down to the breathtaking finish, as USC once again fought through a fourth-quarter deficit to earn a statement-making win. Even if this statement didn’t ring quite the same as the one in September.
Once again it took timely stops by USC’s defense and heroic performances from its top receiver, as Ja’Kobi Lane reeled in 127 yards and three touchdowns, giving him a dozen on the year.
But this time the Trojans quarterback had to dig his way out of a deep hole first.
USC wide receiver Makai Lemon runs with the ball during the first half of the Trojans’ Las Vegas Bowl win Friday night.
(David Becker / Getty Images)
Where Miller Moss had put on a show throughout the season opener, his replacement, Jayden Maiava, struggled to move USC’s offense at all at the start of a mistake-filled finale. Worse yet, he committed three head-scratching interceptions, each of which threatened to derail a Trojans offense that seemed to be hanging by a thread.
But before the questions about USC’s quarterback future could be posed, Maiava managed to move the Trojans down the field on one scoring drive … then another … then another. He hit Makai Lemon for two big plays downfield, then found Lane for his second and third touchdowns. In quick succession, USC erased a three-score deficit behind its quarterback’s cannon right arm.
Texas A&M fired back, as quarterback Marcel Reed worked his own magic on a go-ahead touchdown drive, sprinting his way into the end zone with less than two minutes remaining.
It was too much time to leave Maiava, who put an ugly start behind him to finish with 295 yards and four touchdowns. As he sat back in the pocket on third and 13, with the bowl hanging in the balance, he fired a pass downfield that found Lane, who stumbled his way through one tackle for a 33-yard gain. Maiava hit Lane again, just before the goal line, but a delay of game set the Trojans back to the seven with just 12 seconds left.
It was Kyle Ford this time who broke open on the slant, as Maiava fired a dart for the go-ahead score.
It was a stunning, fourth-quarter turn for the Trojans, who’d seemed well on their way to giving away the game through the first three quarters. With five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, USC trailed by 17, with three turnovers to its name. But the Trojans defense stood tall from there, stopping the Aggies on three consecutive drives and giving Maiava just enough time to guide USC back into the lead.
Texas A&M wasted little time in asserting its will at the start, marching down the field with a methodical, 16-play touchdown drive, while USC struggled to move the ball. None of the Trojans’ first three drives managed to extend beyond six yards, while the Aggies racked up 134 in the first quarter alone.
Opportunities kept being handed to USC, anyway. A 46-yard return from Lemon set USC up at midfield, only for the drive to screech to a halt. A diving interception from Kamari Ramsey set the Trojans up in similar position on the next possession … with similarly disappointing results.
At any moment, it seemed Texas A&M might break the game open. But a tipped Aggies pass in the end zone was picked off by Akili Arnold, giving the Trojans yet another chance to find their footing. This time they followed through, as Maiava found Lane streaking wide open across the field to tie it 7-7.
USC linebacker Mason Cobb, left, and defensive end Braylan Shelby celebrate in the first half Friday.
(David Becker / Getty Images)
The Aggies stalled after that, managing a meager five yards in the second quarter. And yet USC still couldn’t seize control. One drive ended with a regrettable deep ball from Maiava that was picked off. Another was spent running down the clock just before halftime, only for USC to miss a 39-yard field goal.
Texas A&M did its best to make USC pay after that, scoring 17 straight points in the third quarter. But it wasn’t enough, as Maiava led the Trojans back to finish an up-and-down season on a high note, right where it started.
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