LOS ANGELES — They are no strangers, first growing together from the late Mike Leach’s sprawling Texas Tech tree, their roots branching off in directions that weave back together.

Eight years after Dana Holgorsen first left Texas Tech, he went toe-to-toe with former disciple Lincoln Riley in 2015, the West Virginia Mountaineers were routed by Oklahoma 44-24 in Riley’s first year playing in Norman . In the years that followed, they clashed in annual shootouts, with Holgorsen never able to overcome Riley’s humming Sooner offenses. Even when Holgorsen left for Houston in 2019, Riley beat him again 49-31 in a season opener at Oklahoma, the last time the two Air Raid mechanics faced off.

Yet.

They are not strangers, yes. But they never met like this. Holgorsen was out of college football for the better part of a year after being fired by Houston in 2023, only to have Nebraska’s Matt Rhule call him amid the Cornhuskers’ offensive struggles and- He takes him on a flight to Lincoln for a while. consult.

A few days later, Rhule announced that Holgorsen was taking over — in the middle of the season — as Nebraska’s play-caller, and Riley suddenly had an old friend to plot against.

“I was surprised, honestly,” Riley grinned, reflecting Tuesday on his reaction to Holgorsen’s hiring. “I heard he went there, but I had no idea if that was going to happen or not.”

“I mean, Coach Rhule obviously has a lot of confidence in him and I can see why,” Riley continued, a few words later. “If you’re going to do it, you have to do it with someone who has the experience and the level of success that Dana has had.”

Suddenly, Saturday’s game between USC and Nebraska has become a nice mystery, with two programs bringing in help from the wings to shore up offenses that have been treading water for weeks. Enter Holgorsen as Nebraska’s offensive coordinator, an orchestrator of West Virginia’s consistently strong offense. In place of Miller Moss for USC is quarterback Jayden Maiava, with Riley calling on the UNLV redshirt transfer after reviewing film of a 21-point effort against Washington in which Moss threw another stunning pick in the half two.

The fascinating question: Amid the sudden change, how much will Riley and Holgorsen’s schemes — similarly based on a spread passing attack and using the running game as a counter — change over the course of a few weeks?

“I mean, your first thought is, obviously, I don’t think it’s going to be a radical new system,” Riley said Tuesday. “I’m sure there will be some things different or why make the change to begin with?”

It made for some late nights for USC defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn over the past week, suddenly tasked with reviewing film of Holgorsen’s Houston offense and evaluating any fundamentals he might bring to the offense Nebraska. Holgorsen’s Houston offenses ranked first in the top 20 in the nation in both 2021 and 2022, with a heavy dose of pepper from then-Cougars quarterback Clayton Tune.

And the Cornhuskers certainly need a spark in freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola, who can’t generate much traction on a three-game losing streak. In particular, Nebraska has struggled mightily in completing runs, ranking near the bottom of the country in red zone efficiency this season.

“Is there anything different that he’s done that we think he might be able to incorporate in a two-week span?” Lynn said Wednesday when asked about Holgorsen. “You can’t change much, but you can definitely change some things about goodbye.”

Equally curious, meanwhile, is how Riley will restructure USC’s offense behind Maiava, a 6-foot-4 dual-threat athlete whom sophomore wide receiver Duke Robinson praised as “super gifted natural”. For two weeks, USC’s head coach has largely resisted any notion that Maiava could help unlock a deep offense, but the 2024 slugger has shown a more natural ability than Moss to make play off option looks. running back in his snaps in 2024.

“We’ve been able to see him with a lot of reps now, and I think we have a pretty decent sense of where his confidence is in certain things that we’re doing,” Riley said when asked Tuesday how much he’s working with him. Maiava on USC’s offensive game plan, “and things that he really feels like he can go out there and execute at a high level.”