Clay Helton Ranks USC No. 4

The coaches’ poll only makes its final ballot public and Clay Helton, who is a voter, ranked USC No. 4. Ahead of Ohio State (his No. 5) and even ahead of Alabama (his No. 6 team).

The first answer from USC officials will no doubt be that Helton is merely supporting his team. But this is why transparency is vital: To see where coaches are ranking their own team. Helton ranked USC higher than any other coach, except one: Washington State coach Mike Leach, who had USC No. 3.

85 thoughts on “Clay Helton Ranks USC No. 4

    • Saban voted Bama number 1. Meyer voted OSU number 2. Interesting regarding Malzahn, who voted Auburn number 12, and he voted Trojans number 11.

      • The Malzahn vote really IS interesting. Explain that to SW. He’d probably question the voter as a source, since he has no decent sources.

      • Hats off to Malzahn – I remeber when Gene Chicik was there with that father/son ‘Cam Newton’ team at QB how the papers there chuckled at everything he said and echoed his defiance for any impropriety alleged against – good find and no surprise per Sabin and Myer

  1. This coming from the most criticized voter in the history of the AP college football poll…..pathetic!

    • Yep – #4 is completely fair. It’s why, as Adam Maya says, there needs to be an 8-team playoff. The champs from each conference need to play it off.

    • We should never forget that Wolf was the genius who voted 6-6 UVA into the official AP Top 25, after they closed the season 1-5, because he got them mixed up with VA Tech. Other gems include moving 7-5 Iowa State into the Top 25 and then replacing them with Fresno State… after they lost their conference championship game. It is honestly shocking that he didn’t move Stanford up.

      Clown Blog.

  2. Don’t allow coaches to vote for their own team.

    8 team playoff

    The solutions are so simple

  3. What difference does it make, Wolf? The coaches’ poll doesn’t count for anything any more.

  4. So says the blogger who actually DROPPED USC from 11 to 12 after they won the PAC12 conference championship game.

  5. Coaches poll is a joke. Always has been. Who do you expect the coaches to vote for other than their own team? It’s their job you know.

    • Really? You’re obviously not paying any attention whatsoever.

      Try again. The PO Committee’s final selections nearly match the Coaches Poll team-for-team in the first 10 spots. Next.

      • But he still makes great plays and is very dangerous and as a runner, he can kill anybody. We’ve seen what guys like Vince Young can do to people and Barrett will wreck us if we don’t corral him. USC has to keep him boxed in.

        No way should Barrett be described as “absolutely horrible.” When he’s hot, he’s very scary. Just ask PSU. Barrett knocked them silly and in effect ruined their entire season.

        I’m very worried about OHIO ST’s d-line, as well. That’s a big issue I hope Helton and Callaway can come up with a big plan for.

        This is gonna be a great game between two teams that aren’t great, but if you catch them in the wrong mood, they’ll beat your head in with big strikes or a brutal grind.

        • I’m amazed, that the great, Urban Myer can’t recruit a decent passing quarterback

          • Neither can Harbaugh. They don’t grow ’em on street corners. There’s a limited, finite supply of QBs. And they all have ceilings. Nobody can just coach up lesser talent to greatness. And that applies to all positions, which is why USC’s CBs are only average and don’t play like their HS rankings would suggest. They were always OVER-RANKED.

            And so many QBs are over-ranked coming out of HS and are never capable of being great. USC’s had a load of these guys and they always end up transferring and not doing that well at their next stop either.

            That’s part of the greatness of the game. How well can a coach evaluate HS talent and truly see the kids that have real greatness in them? It’s a real skill, more like an art, to be able to do that.

            USC’s become very good at that lately at the RB, WR and TE positions, and now with Darnold at QB, while we missed with QBs for several years after Palmer. But our OL evaluation for kids out of HS has been horrible lately. We just have a bunch of also-rans on the OL now, and it’s kept us from being a PO team. Imagine this team at USC now with a John McKay or Robinson-type OL. We’d be playing CLEM for the championship.

          • I Iook at it differently.

            It wasn’t the close loss on a short week at a tough place to play against a good, inspired WSU team (at the time).

            It was the 35-point national TV prime-time blow-out, failure-to-show against our major rival that killed off SC. Once USC pulled that all-time sh*it show, we lost all our real bargaining power IMO.

          • i think we should count ourselves lucky that we didnt lose some of the other close games.

          • Why is USC’s secondary so awful? All these five-star recruits and they get torched every week by mediocre passers and receivers. I don’t get it.

        • Ohio State can only score on making big chunk plays with their speedy RB, WRs and Barrett (before his knee surgery). Their defense has some good pass rushers and one decent corner and one good safety. We should be able to create long consistent drives and score a ton of points. I dont think their offense will be able to keep up.

          • All I can say is I am super glad we are a big Vegas dog in this game. Love this role, especially since we’re almost always on the other side and having to fend off the inspired under dogs.

            I think this game will be a brutal, smash-mouth battle. I just hope we can hold up our end of the smash-mouth part, because our OL gets shoved around way too much for my liking.

          • ohio state’s swarming defense could get real tough for our running game. when we cant run, it puts too much pressure on darnold to save the whole team.

          • Defense did a pretty good job on Tate and his crew. Need the same defense with Ohio St. Offense needs to get away from running between the tackles and work more outside and misdirection with Ohio St defense.

          • Spot on. Also the line needs to double team Bosa. Or at least bring in a TE and throw a chip block to slow him down. As long as Darnold plays well, we will win.

        • worried that ohio state’s defense will stop the running game for SC and the coaches will not adjust early enough. SC’s players deserve better coaching.

        • They shut down WIS bad. The Badgers looked feeble, all game with no punch, and their supposed great RB, Jonathan Taylor, got stuffed.

          I think we’ll have much more of a battle on our hands in trenches than you do.

          If RoJo and Carr run wild, then the Trojans win for sure.

          • I am hopeful and believe we have the best 1-2 punch in Cfb.. Also Ucla kicked Ball to the curb..and Saban to the NY Giants…lol

          • He’s at home today checking out sunglasses on the Internet. I’m not sure how he figures out how to steal those.

      • Yes, but our secondary is just as bad, and with Chris Hawkins and Jack Jones constantly missing assignments, that OSU quarterback might have a good day against us.

  6. Scooter, the laugh is on you. Helton has more creditbility than you. Yet, you make it that if anyone does not follow your vote, then they don’t know anything. Yet, Scooter, you are the lost one regarding football.

  7. The ying and the yang. Helton votes USC higher than all but one coach, while Wolf votes USC lower than all but one AP writer.

    SW, you argue transparency is vital, so perhaps you could start by explaining your voting, which truly seems to defy rationality.

    • ’72, real highly rated FB teams don’t lose reg. season games by 35 points and accept bids to a 3rd tier, DEC. 29th, 2017, Tixas extravaganza, called the Cotton Candy Bowl.

        • Peyote is too much trouble to prepare.

          I prefer packaged MM’s that are ground and consumed with a pint of mead.

      • You do realize that the most prestigious bowl appearance by the Bruins, in the past decade, is UCLA rallying from a 35-10 halftime deficit to only lose by 23 to Baylor in the 2012 Holiday Bowl.

        It was a marked improvement from the 2011 squad, who somehow managed to become bowl eligible with a 6-7 record… only to stop Illinois’ 6 game losing streak by dropping the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.

        The Bruins should hold a third tier bowl in the same aspirational regard that is usually reserved for things like a 100 yard practice field.

        • Gosh Mr. Robot, UCLA wasn’t the 2017 pre-season # 4 team; they weren’t suppose to go:

          13 – 0
          Accept a berth in the playoff rotation
          Win the CFB NC
          and the Piglet win the Heisman T.

          So naturally UCLA hasn’t been relegated to the Cotton Candy Bowl that’s now referred to as the Battle of the +30 pt. losers bowl.

          • Hey Bruin Rob, shouldn’t you be helping the Big Baller Brand move out of the dorm at UCLA? I mean, that’s the closest you ever get to the school.

          • First of all, I think you were trying to say “supposed to” and if we assume that you can get that squared away, the answer to most sane people would be “no”. I can’t recall a season with four undefeated teams, so going 13-0 was never really expected.

            On the plus side, SC did beat Stanford twice, which any Bruin should consider quite a feat, since UCLA hasn’t beaten them since 2008. And yes, I still count the game that Mora threw because he was afraid of playing Oregon.

            Your last bit of gibberish, well, you see, UCLA wasn’t “relegated” to playing #5 Ohio St because they barely managed to become bowl eligible, had a losing record in the conference for the second year in a row, and dropped far enough that they will be playing the Big-12’s 6th ranked team.

            It really is a shame that SC wasn’t able to make it to the Rose Bowl again this year, but at least SC can tell a recruit that they’ve played in the Grandaddy during their lifetime. Just keep partying like its 1999… when you lost to Wisconsin in your last Rose Bowl.

      • Go Cactus Bowl! You are such a little gutty. Lay off the sauce Squats. Your brain is turning to mush.

        • Jack, tomorrow is the eighth anniversary of the one of the most epic take downs of a Bruin Troll in the history of the Daily News/USC Blog. I’ll post all the details tomorrow morning.

  8. Where does Andyain’twinning rank the bozo BB team after bricking/losing the last two Toejam BB games by 16 & 17 points.

    Can’t wait for the Toejam vs Sooner MarKey non-conf. BB game 12/8 at G Stables.

    Congrats to the bozo u WP team for finishing in 2nd place at the NCAA WP finals.

  9. Well it isn’t beyond reason…I think the 1st 4 are correct and Bama will win it all vs Georgia…I think SC will beat Ohio St and end up maybe #4 if one of the other games is like the 31-0 Ohio St debacle last year.

  10. I don’t get the controversy. He placed his team 2-3 spots ahead of consensus. It’s not like it’s 20 slots.

    • Of course you wouldn’t get the controversy. You’re a bruin.

      Your team, the little gutties, is never ranked, never has anything at stake except maybe six wins, often never even gets a single vote by the AP or the Coaches, only plays in crap bowl games, sometimes with a losing record, and you are no longer USC’s most important west coast rival any longer – STAN is and has been for a long time.

      Sorry little gutty. You don’t belong in this conversation from where you stand, the dregs of college football. Hah, hah, hah.

      Go Show Cause Chip! ucla hires an exposed cheater to fix your woeful program. You’ve come a long way baby, Oh wait, I forgot. Wooden was a big-time cheater too. It’s a bruin tradition.

      • Easy on UCLA Dynasty there Jack. He posted last night that UCLA will be in the CFP next season with the Chipster at the helm. Where is Willie Lyles?

        • Always fun to take pot shots at you little gutty wimps. Don’t you ever get tired of bending over on a USC site?

          We own you chump. Need a hanky Cactus Bowler?

          • It’s always fun to wind up a certain subset of the population by just being here. Like I said, wound tight.

          • You keep coming back for more loser. Glad I upset you so much. Always my pleasure punkng little gutties like you, wimp.

      • He can’t help it dynasty—-the man needs help–he is transfixed with the bruins! Must mean he couldn’t get into UCLA and had to settle for the toejams!

  11. Tonight on “I hate USC Athletics” your host Scott Wolf will discuss Coach Helton ranking the Trojans quite high in the final coaches poll. No other football coach has ever done this.

  12. It’s not just supporting his team, there is a modicum of truth in the ranking. we are a few points away from being 11 and 1 and a few refs away from being 12&0 so maybe Helton is looking at personnel and wins and not style points that east coast writers value

  13. Goes to show there are at least a couple of coaches that got it right. This blog is a joke. Wolf never gets a poll right anyway.

  14. USC is ranked #2 as far as having the most overall talent, but a coaching staff that ranks about#100.

  15. If Clay Helton and his staff wouldn’t have underachieved, USC wouldn’t be so underrated.

  16. USC went into the Shoe in 2009 with a true freshman QB and beat a Buckeyes team that went 11-2.

  17. 1. Did anyone notice how quiet the ESPN crew was that was debating Ohio State versus Alabama when the Metrics including Strength Of Schedule, Top 40 Record, etc…were displayed comparing USC. Ohio State and Alabama?
    2. Did I really see that Kirk Herbstreit really get so upset that his beloved Ohio State was left out that he walked off the set?
    3. Pac 12 has a great chance to prove or disprove themselves in the Cotton and Fiesta Bowls. Nice thing is….given the opportunity to do so rather than not.

    • Those jabronies are all in with the committee. They all said Alabama should be #4 and thanked the committee for having the courage to do the right thing instead of what is politically correct. I ran out of my chair when I heard that. Actually, what they did is what people would joke about, because a day later it’s still totally crazy to have a team that wasn’t good enough to win their division contend for the World Heavyweight Championship.

  18. Helton is lame. That was just stupid voting on his part. Why didn’t he vote the Trojans #1 with all their squeakers at home. Beating Stanford twice does not make you a super power. The loss to ND was terrible, and pure coaching garbage. Hey Kiffin went 10 & 2 when team on probation believe beating a.good Oregon team. This year no UW while W. Michigan was mediocre after an undefeated season prior. Texas and Utah lost plenty, and Arizona fell apart after playing the Trojans. It is too bad there was no rematch with Alabama to really judge the team’s strength. Actually Darnold should have been voted #3 for he has made Helton.

    • Lot of truth in that post i.e. none of us will really know how skilled Helton is until Darnold is gone and 2019 rolls around (WA & OR)

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