Did USC Consider Going For 2 Points On Final Touchdown?


You can see in this video, Clay Helton says, “”No, no, no, we’re going for one.”

56 thoughts on “Did USC Consider Going For 2 Points On Final Touchdown?

  1. ‏@BruceFeldmanCFB

    #USC QB Sam Darnold has won the Archie Griffin Award, college football’s Most Valuable Player for the entire season. 1st FR to ever win it.

    • You beat me to it! It’s fun to break news faster than the blogger breaks wind – which is often!

      “USC redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Darnold was named the winner of the 2016 Archie Griffin Award, presented by the Touchdown Club of Columbus to college football’s season-long most valuable player as determined at the conclusion of the bowl season.

      Darnold is the first freshman to win the Griffin Award since it was first presented in 1999. He is the second Trojan recipient, as quarterback Matt Leinart won the Archie Griffin Award in 2003 and 2004.”

  2. I watched the game with a PSU alum that I work with. Won a bottle of tequila from him but lost this side bet. I said before the TD that SC would go for two if they scored…was wrong. Cost me $5.

    • I guess those coaches who came over from Western Kentucky have done a better job than the westwood boys.

      • Wimpwood is agog with USC’s success now. They’re totally humiliated and befuddled over there. Just another low point for ucla football, America’s most underachieving FB team ever.

  3. You can watch a video interview of Helton “on another channel” where he explains the strategy. If there was less than 30 seconds left on the clock then USC would have gone for two; that’s why Darnold immediately looked to the sideline after throwing the TD. Helton had the plan locked in long before the TD was scored and had discussed it with the staff and Darnold.

      • NOOOOO not possible, Franklin is a genius, Helton is out of his league (according to the blogger).

      • Why?- Because SC won. It was probably about a 3% chance or less that SC would pull off that victory. If the 97% hit, then everybody would be saying what a savior Franklin was, and whata bum Helton is.

        Such is life in the finite world of big-time sports.

    • Why would 30 seconds have determined the decision?– If less than 30 seconds SC goes for 2?– 2 times out of 3 SC loses. So I don’t get that thinking.

      • With 1:20 left, they felt they could get the ball back. Which is exactly what happened.

      • The only scenario you go for 2 is if by succeeding the game would be essentially over. You are going for checkmate. With 30 or less seconds left you can make that argument.

        You would never ever go for 2 with 1:20 left as even if you succeed you still have less than 50% chance to win as PSU still has plenty of time to get to field goal distance.

        Fortunately for USC the best scenario happened PSU stalled and USC got the ball back with time left on the clock.

  4. It was probably that rocket scientist Martin who said that. His IQ is lower than his shoe size

    • USC wins the Rose Bowl and scores 52 points and you’re actually trying to take a cheap shot at Tee Martin and Tyson Helton….
      You really have to go adopt a Pet. Go play bingo at the Natzi senior center and shoot the sh** like you you always do.
      You have no kind of insight to USC Football and you always try and break up the party witg some anti-SC opinions because you have no clue whats going.

      LMAO!
      TOOL!

  5. PMS – Petros Papadakis announced @ 4:10 pm that effective Fall 2017 570 AM will be the FL Atlantic Owl football statiobn for all developments specific to LK – looks like SW isn’;t the only one obsessed with the Kiffinisker

  6. The old maxim still holds – go for the win on the road and hold for the tie at home. Right move by Helton

  7. Mathematically, it is the wrong decision every time,or at least in this particular situation.

    The odds of making a 2-pointer are about 1 in 3; you fail, you lose 2 times out of 3.

    However, if you kick the extra point (over 90% sure), you go into overtime with your odds at about 1 in 2, or 50%.

  8. The way USC was on a roll, USC would have won in overtime. I’m not sure (with no timeouts) why having 30 seconds or less on the clock would have factored into the decision, but it was the right one. I’m actually glad that Boermeester got a chance to redeem his two prior misses with a winning kick…

  9. You go for two, Darnold gets one only shot into the end zone. If he misses, game’s over as PSU just takes a knee and wins by 1. USC wasn’t running well, so you know it’s a pass.

    Tie and go into overtime (which PSU blew-up of course) and Darnold’s got four pea-shooter shots into the EZ, something he’s great at. Hugely better odds for SC to play for OT. Not even close.

  10. With overtime available going for one is the smart choice. great coaching. Get it into overtime and take your shots.

    Can you just imagine how the hypocritical blogger would be howling if Helton went for two and failed ????? !!!!! (fire helton, hire franklin, bring back kiffen, etc…)

    Livin’ in the past Scottie, when McKay went for two (win or lose) its because there were no OT rules.

  11. A pretty good coach, very composed and under control when everyone was going nuts. My kind of coach. Great job coach Helton.

  12. I think all watching the game pondered 1 or 2…PSU made it irrelevant by deciding to try for the win instead of settling for o/t. If Helton had tried for 2 and it was good PSU would have done what they did. AND… SC would have done what it did except no field goal necessary, but Matt would have missed out on the kick of his life,etc…

  13. After they got the interception I felt they could have ran another play after the run. 19 seconds seems like more than enough time to throw at least one towards the sidelines. Of course if he ran another play and time expired, he would have been eviscerated. Coach Helton trusted his kicker.

    Boermeester needs to learn to run towards the USC band/fans and not the opposing team’s fans. Ahhh..I guess he can do whatever he wants. haha

  14. After a little over a season of watching Coach Helton, it’s clear he’s a conservative decision maker. The guy is just meat and potatoes and if you thought he was going for 2 you’re not paying attention.

  15. One of the best and most satisfying plays of the game (long shot call!) was Sam’s slippy-slidy toss for the 2 pointer. It just pumped the crowd and players… that’s when CFB is still a lot of fun…

    • 2pt conversions are really dodgy plays whether you’re on offense or defense. If you get one a game you probably shouldn’t push it if you don’t have to.

      • Clay it’s been a while since i seen you around. Where have you been and how bout that Rose Bowl.

        • Heya Sam. I’ve been around, but am less motivated to contribute when there is no football. Plus, I felt my work here was mostly done.

          What a beautiful game it was Monday night. I know the Texas loss was a “great game” and a “great Rose Bowl” but it’s nice to have another entry in those categories where we came out ahead. I hear people talk about the 2005 RB as being a great game, but I can never fully get there with them. So, I’m very happy to have this one now.

          With all that said, it’s a crucial time now and we need to capitalize on this momentum and sign a “springboard” kind of class. USC is the Rose Bowl Champion in Helton’s first year and they aren’t even Rolling yet. I’m expecting a win streak that stretches into the twenties.

          • Perfectly said. Ever since the Texas game we’ve been on the losing end of some significant comebacks or shootouts. Kiffin lost to Washington and Stanford his first season on last second field goals, then there was the triple OT loss to Andrew Luck. Then the meltdown at Utah this season. But we’ve had our hearts broken plenty of times the last 8 years. We were deserving of this win because Sam’s had ice in his veins from the day 1 as the starter and the players only meeting was also huge because they all cleared the air and were smart enough to realize that they were actually making Helton look bad because of their early season struggles. But it’s all coming together. And i seriously believe that we should go undefeated next year with Notre Dame being the toughest road game and missing UW and Oregon on the schedule.

          • I agree, but I’m a little concerned about what Herman might do for Texas. He may be that rainmaker that makes the Longhorns appear to be a completely different team than the one we saw under C. Strong. We’ll want to keep an eye on how Texas finishes with recruiting and how they’re progressing as teams with deep recruiting bases and effective coaching can be really good really fast.

          • Texas will have an upset or two next season. I really think we’re too hungry to let up in that game as we’ll be going forward with hopes of playing in the CFB Playoffs. Add in the revenge factor with Texas and i think Helton takes Herman to school in what will be a long, hot, day (but full to capacity) for the Longhorns. I’m worried more worried about Stanford. Stranger things have happened but Texas is gonna feel it this time. Marvin Wilson, Levi Jones, Marvin Wilson’s 5-Star OT teammate is already committed to Stanford. Strong created a soft football program and Herman hasn’t been the big splash hire that we thought he would be in terms of Texas reeling in last minute studs. They wer lucky to have had the classes Strong brought in.

          • Ok, but we were hungry before we played Bama too. I guess we’ll find out about the current staff at Texas and their recruiting chops, but I don’t consider it the last minute yet. I certainly feel like we need time and have time to fill out a great class and so does Texas. I’ll just keep my eye on them.

            I understand your feeling about Stanford, but I feel like we’re beyond the Stanford conundrum now. Next year it’s time to show the conference that the sheriff is back in town and we’ve got a warrant to serve on Stanford. We’re going to bring Stanford to justice next year. I’m not worried about any of the neighborhood squabbles as it’s time to take this thing national. I look forward to emphatically answering the Stanford question next year and I’m confident we will.

        • Btw I was really impressed with Penn State’s tailback and their receiver #12. Barkley does a lot of the things I’d like to see our backs do in the way that he runs.

          • He impressed me. But there OLine was also pretty good. I literally had flashbacks to Ki Jana Carter running all over us at the meadowlands from 94.

          • I think their line was decent, but we missed a lot of tackles and took some bad pursuit angles. Some of that was on us but a lot of it was because of the way he runs and how elusive he was. He has great vision and deceptive moves. If you look at his 70+ yd run, he showed me everything that I’ve been wanting from Rojo. Rojo wouldn’t have scored on that run.

      • In this case it was far from “dodgy”…SC needed it. It worked, but only – as Helton claims – because of “glory to god!”…or something.

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