74 thoughts on “USC Question Of The Day”

  1. Not sure if your poll results will give you what you want Wolf. I would love to see Helton become the next Herman. Even though it would make Haden look good, it would sure make USC look good. Not that I think that would happen, but it is what I would like to see and in all honesty we all wish it would. Nobody hates Helton they are just not confident about him.

    • PC didn’t inherit a team with 4 and 5Star talent. If we can win out this month and somehow beat Washington I will be a Helton believer.

      • Ya Sam, I guess we need to fight on and let the chips fall. I am just trying to be optimistic and hopeful on here, so many people are so negative and that really gets old.

          • Helen, I just think the blogger may be right. The guy is 1-7 against ranked opponents and those 7 losses were all very bad losses. PC lost 6 games his first year by a total of something like 14 points, something like that. Huge difference.

          • Good question. My only answer is with Pete’s first season we didn’t get blown out in every loss. In fact our defense kept us in games. Helton gets beat by double digits and they aren’t even close. A loss is still a loss, but there’s a huge gap in improvement between PC’S 1st season and Helton’s first 7 as head coach.

          • So using your definition of a 31-27 score being a very bad loss. I can say that a 35-28 score is a massacre?

          • The Utah loss was an embarrassing loss. We were up 17 I think. That’s inexcusable.

          • Did you read my post? We fumbled the ball 4 times. 3 times in a row. We gave up a 17 point lead which is a three score situation. We couldn’t stop Utah on 3rd OR 4th down. Yes, I’d say that 31-27 game was seriously embarrassing. If you were ok with it then something is wrong my friend.

          • This was your quote-” Helen, I just think the blogger may be right. The guy is 1-7 against ranked opponents and those 7 losses were all very bad losses. PC lost 6 games his first year by a total of something like 14 points, something like that. Huge difference “. I’m asking for a clarification on what a very bad loss is. Is a 4 point loss a very bad loss. You said it. You should be able to explain it.

          • Pete, plain and simple, every Helton loss has been an embarrassing one. No “we played well, but just got beat” games. They were all beat downs. The score of the Utah game doesn’t even tell the story of how they dominated us in the 3rd and 4th quarters. And I should correct myself, Helton is 2-7 in ranked games, I forgot he beat Utah and UCLA.

          • So now your changing your stance. You go from a very bad loss to a embarrassing loss. Since you cannot explain what you mean by a very bad loss how about this. All Heltons losses were embarrassing losses for who? They weren’t embarrising for me. I didn’t play. Were you embarrassed? Was Lynn Swann embarrassed? Who exactly was embarrassed?

          • Pete you obviously don’t mind losing, and you’ve obviously never played competitive sports and if you did you probably weren’t very good. Sorry, not trying to insult you, I’m really not, but anyone who is ok with losing the way USC has been probably has never played any kind of ball because I’ll tell you this is would be embarrassed as player and a coach if my teams we getting smacked around like USC has been. FYI, I don’t mind the disagreement or you not seeing things from my perspective, but don’t call me out. Pete if your at the Coliseum on Saturday just ask 3 random people if they were embarrassed by USC’S recent losses. Just 3. The parking lot was full of SC fans who were “embarrassed”. You might be OK with Alabama beating USC 52-6 or Utah showing USC no respect by going for it on 4th down 2 times instead of kicking a field goal, but most of us aren’t ok with that. Tell me when it sounds embarrassing?

          • I played 2years varsity football at San Pedro High school. I played both ways. Now if you can’t explain what a very bad loss is I will do it for you. There is no such thing. Nor are there embarrassing losses. That’s what fans say but not the players or coaches. Watch any interview and the coach and players will say after a loss that they need to find a way to play better. Teams that stay together will try to improve. USC didn’t get beaten down in the Utah game. They were in the game until the end. A 31-27 loss is a close game. Utah was the better team. They had less turnovers. There is a stat in football that says whichever team has the less turnovers wins the game 73% of the time. Turnovers are not the coaches fault. USC doesn’t turn the ball over 3 times( not 4) they win in the game. On two of those turnovers , one puts the ball 1st down on the 13 yard line. The 2nd turnover puts the ball 1st down on the 28 yard line. That was the ball game right there. The players lost that game not the coaches. Now If you know so much about football see if you can answere this: When T Martin calls a Inside Zone Read play what gap is Justin Davis running to?

          • Again no offense. But for you to even argue this means you have no clue what it means to get ran out of the gym by 20-25 points, or be in an inning where the other team is hitting double after double, or when the other football team is beating you 52-6 (wink). If you’ve ever experienced that then you and your teammates wouldn’t be OK. MY TEAMMATES in varsity baseball (ss), varsity basketball (pg/sg) the locker room would be filled with anger. We were embarrassed playing in the Chino Tournament and get beat 13 -2. You never felt that? You never had standards?

          • I only read your top comments. But to answer your bottom question, I only played 4 years of pop Warner (junior all American is what they call it). Anyways I broke my arm in the summer leading to my freshman year and never continued playing ball. What does that have to do with anything anyways. I’ll just say this Pete, I’m more than surprised that you feel the way you do. I played basketball and baseball at little town in banning and we were expected to win our league every year, we wanted to win, in summer league we wanted to win. You went to San Pedro and this is your stance? I’m scratching my head.

          • I was answering your reply when you said I never the played the game. I don’t care what other people say. I’m talking to you. Your problem Sam is you say a lot of things but don’t demonstrate anything. Your expressing your option with no substance. Now if you say that the Stanford loss was on the coaches and then give sound reasons on how the coaches lost the game then you would you would have credibility. All you been doing is what politicians do. You Deflect. Good luck

          • I get it. You’re ok with losing. With losing badly. You’re ok with getting embarrassed. That’s the difference between me and you on this subject. Getting blown out on National television makes me uncomfortable. You on the other hand have the “at least we tried” mentality. Good luck with that. I hope you don’t play softball on the weekends.

          • COACHES????? It’s the coaches job to make sure Marvell Tell knows where Christian McCaffrey is on that play. It’s the coaches job to get in Juju’s ear and tell him to use TWO HANDS WHILE CATCHING THE BALL.IN THE END ZONE, especially when your team is behind. You get paid MILLIONS to teach? In sports teaching is called called coaching. Helton is bot doung that. That’s coaching. You don’t let that ride.

          • No it’s Marvell Tell’s job to know where he’s suppose to be. That’s why they practice.

          • True, but they obviously didn’t pit an emphasis on that or else he would’ve been his 1st and only priority. There were two players confused and stuck like they were in drying cement.

          • Also, Helton’s start and overall record as head coach/interim should alarm you. Sam is saving his behind, its sure not his coaching. Like all of you I’m at the Coliseum every home game and so far this team looks like it’s in a lot of trouble. We have no pass rush from the DLINE, the safeties are always out of position, you never know which Biggie you’re getting each week and our OLINE needs Sam to run around to make them look like they are blocking. It’s not pretty and I’m in row 73, this looks obvious from my seat and most others.

        • I hear you Steve, I really do. But I’m not convinced that Helton is the guy. If he turns it around you are at the top of my list to say “you were right”. Believe me, I want to win. I hate showing up at the Coliseum to see an average team. I’m trying to be patient. I really hope I’m wrong about Helton. We’ll see.

        • Let’s face it. Palmer was on bad teams with a bad coach Pete and Chow brought the best out of him

        • Top ten maybe, but no 5* talent. Shaun Cody was our first 5* kids in a long while. Grootegoed wasn’t a safety, he had heart, but Pete got the estimate out of him at OLB.

      • We are finding that some of that talent is way overrated. We have some good experienced coaches like Tommy Robinson, Clancy Pendergast, John Baxter, Neil Callaway.

        • Robinson and Baxter have been earning their paychecks. I’m still waiting to see the OLine play well against a good defense.

        • Robinson and Baxter have been earning their paychecks. I’m still waiting to see the OLine play well against a good defense.

          • I agree 100%. I do think the run option offense is helping with the deficiencies in the O line. We knew D line was suspect, but they have been coming along also.

          • I agree, Darnold is actually avoiding sacks. I think Gustin is getting way better on the DLINE, maybe not showing on his sack stats, but he’s making plays.

      • Honest question my friend..What Pac teams were strong back when Pete started?..Pete is an innovator of motivation.He also had coaches that innovated.
        Helton is a good man.He’s not an innovator.We have a Slim chance to finish with only one more loss.Helton may become a solid coach,probably never elite.Time for USC to have Elite coaching.

        • No clear cut power back then, but USC had big trouble with Oregon (Joey Harrington), Washington (Tuiasosopo) and Washington St (Jason Gesser). We had trouble with the Pacific Northwest schools.

  3. SC hired him. He will either earn the job or lose it…right now he is at about 50/50…if he gets this team to the Pac12 playoff, he earned it. If not ,it is up to the AD,etc…He deserves a chance to earn it. He didn’t steal it ,it was offered and he said yes.That’s it without the drama.

  4. Stat/Fact of the Day

    Christian McCaffrey has never scored a touchdown in his career on the road.

    Hard to believe

  5. Clay Helton blew an opportunity of a lifetime, because he chose to name friends as his assistant coaches, rather than surrounding himself with the best available candidates. He dragged his feet in naming a defensive coordinator, and D-line coach. Then fills the positions with a guy he had to beg for the coordinators job, and the other to a former player, that was volunteer the year before. That’s what nice guys do, not championship caliber, coaches.

    • The only people he could find to fill the jobs were his friends, no one else would work for him.

      • Nobody wanted anything to do with the USC football trainwreck. The leadership in athletics was filled with deplorables, and the upper administration was and still is lost in the fog of academia. Helton took on a very tough job, he has worked hard, and he isn’t done yet. Yes I am pulling for him to be a success at USC, it would the beginning of new traditions. If it happens great, if he fails then we move on.

    • This may be the best Helton could get since he doesn’t have the reputation. He needs to win big and the good assistant coaches will follow him.

      If you were an assistant coach, who would you rather have a letter of recommendation from your previous head coach – Helton or Saban? The USC gig under Helton won’t open any doors when the assistants leave; but I bet Kiffin will have some great opportunities in the next few years.

      • Friendships too, which is why Les Miles got the Ax. Because he felt loyal to Cam Cameron who introduced him to his wife, but is a horrible offensive coordinator.

    • Helton had his hands tied a bit by having Haden personally approve all assistant hires.

      The theme of the non-hire of Chris Petersen was Petersen not having full control of the football program. It’s Haden’s meddling that contributed to the issues of the program, among other things.

      Whether Helton could have attracted better assistants is still up in the air. But having the AD personally give a thumbs up or down didn’t help Helton at all.

  6. This poll is skewed! I see the trolls are voting to keep Helton. We all know why!

  7. You 40% that want him fired would have fired P Carroll, J McKay and J Robinson! Helton’s staff has turned this offense from a pro style to a spread (which they are better suited) in a game and a half! Watch them fly now! Fight On!

    • Good point, the run option has really helped the offense, and the aggression on D has really helped.

      • You could fact check that, don’t know myself, but I’m sure plenty of folks here would have been riding JR for something.

    • Its a go for broke. All or nothing. Most of these kids are gamers and athletes.

  8. Clay Helton is 0-5 (ZERO-&-FIVE) against ranked teams……..

    Let that sink in………..

    Let’s wait and see how he coaches @ the Hostile Husky Stadium in Seattle, Washington against another top ranked team.

    Don’t get me wrong, I want to believe!

  9. Firing Helton now makes no sense at all and will only add to the drama. We need to support him and the team and look at it at the end of the season.

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