​LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – AUGUST 29: Luke Weaver #3 of the San Jose State Spartans throws a pass during the third quarter of a game against the USC Trojans at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August 29, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Terrell/Getty Images) | Getty Images Forget the whole ancient war for a second. The part people actually still talk about, thousands of years later, is one matchup. Troy’s best fighter, Hector, squared off with the Greeks’ best fighter, Achilles, knowing full well he probably wasn’t walking away from it. He fought anyway. He lost. And it’s that stand, not the outcome, that’s been retold over the millennia.San Jose State walked into the actual Coliseum on Saturday and lost to USC, a program with more size, more blue-chip talent and a much larger, longer bank account. Nobody needed a crystal ball to see that coming. What deserved a longer look was the guy under center for the Spartans in his first career start, staying entirely himself, while a Big Ten roster tried to physically bury his team.The stat line skeptics will pick apartLuke Weaver finished 21 of 32 for 234 yards and two touchdowns with zero interceptions, adding 42 yards and a rushing score on eight carries. A 147.7 passer rating in a true road opener against a No. 14 team is not a modest afternoon.The Sunday morning crowd will note that some of that production came late, after USC head coach Lincoln Riley started rotating out starters and Ken Niumatalolo noting USC “put some other guys in there at the end.” Fair point. It’s also an incomplete one. Weaver’s calm didn’t switch on when the competition supposedly eased up. It was there on SJSU’s first snaps against USC’s full defensive front and it was there on the sideline late in a game that had gotten away from his team early. It seemed the team had to catch up to Weaver and the team finally did regardless. San Jose State’s fight might be a lesson Riley drills into his own USC team not to ever rest on their laurels; first-string on down, especially with their expectations.Weaver’s stat sheet reads the same whether you want to credit garbage time or not. He kept pace with Maiava. The demeanor and focus in Weaver never changed and that’s the part a box score can’t show you behind the team performance and stats.What the huddle actually sounded likeWeaver wasn’t interested in the moral victory framing after the game. Asked about his first start, he pointed everywhere but himself.“I was really proud of just the resolve of our team, showing a lot of fight, especially in that second half, bouncing back,” said Weaver. Weaver credited his receivers directly for making his job simple. “Those guys did exactly what they do in practice. Routes the same, right? Just made it easy on me.”Linebacker Dylan Lee described the same locker room from the other side of the ball, one that trailed big and still kept swinging. “We had a lot of fight. Obviously, first game,