62 thoughts on “Discuss The USC-Utah Game”

  3. Well at least we got to see the offense run with an experienced quarterback. Why couldn’t they see this sooner?

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    1. Gosh Mr. Never Die, I told you Rah-Rah’s that Daniels didn’t have the chops for first string QB prior to the Vegas game. I’ll bet $$$$$ to donuts Helton knew this but was forced to start Daniels.

      I’m 2 for 2 tonight: The Dodgers are headed to the WS and Succ takes another ugly loss in the shorts. Oh well, so much for the bozo chances to participate in the CFB playoffs.

      I’m prognosticating the bozos will get a bid to the “over-rated,” or the “woodshed,” bowl…….41 – 28 on!

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  4. I wonder what the Helton Sunshine Pumpers are saying now over on the Trojan message boards. I don’t even want to go look because those clowns make me sick. LOL!

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    1. Haven’t you figured it out yet? Those sunshine pumpers are actually demented SC haters/SUCLA fans that are trying really hard to make Gomer stay at SC as long as possible. There’s not one real SC fan that likes him. Anyone who defends him is a fake.

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      1. I agree. Facebook, Trojan daily and of course this blog are all calling for a tarmac solution. Helton might have made it out of he hadn’t needed to put a college quarterback in the game. We went from inept to productive in a matter of plays. Tee was exposed as a one trick pony and one wonders if money changed hands to start the kid without a clue. Look at all of his highlights and see just plain luck masking his lack of skill. Finish the year with a college quarterback and maybe get an invite to a bowl game.

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      2. Well if thats true then Ryan Abraham who runs the Trojans message board is as dumb as a box of rocks for letting bRuin fans dictate the content and comments on the board. Ryan Abraham goes by what a handful of posters say over there. They start calling for posters to get banned and he obliges.

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    1. Haden and Max sure looked like loyal, cardinal and gold Trojans as they hugged, grinned and flashed the Fight On sign…then they got ran out of dodge and left only shambles in their wake.

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  6. Our biggest mistake was not hiring Chris Petersen and hiring Sark bc he was an SC guy .. We need to go get someone who will make us disciplined .. We have too much talent to be this bad at running the football… Our last successful Coach and teams wasn’t an SC guy in Pete Carroll … How about Bob Stoops

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    1. BH, would you, a very competent HFBC, sporting a winning record and available consider employment as the bozo HFBC. Would you ignore what SUCC did to Ed O and then employ an alky HC.

      Ed O saved the bozo FB program from mega-disaster following Kiffy’s tarmac termination and received a butcher knife in the back for his efforts.

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    2. The reason Haden hired Sarkisian was because he thought he could control him. What went down with Petersen was that Haden wanted Petersen to commit to some personnel that Haden wanted placed on his staff and Petersen wouldn’t agree and said, “Thanks, but no thanks”.

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      1. I’m leaning towards Kris Richard. He played under Carroll when Carroll was at USC and Richard was instrumental in developing Seattles “Legion of Boom” defense that helped them win a Suoer Bowl. Kris Richard is coaching the DB’s for the Dallas Cowboys.

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  7. USC is still USC with alot of talent and the best place to recruit .. We were in a horrble situation when Pete took over and in year 2 we were domonating ..Whoever comes in is in better position then when we had sanctions and no scholarships… Yes Coach O got screwed but now Swann needs to be a true leader and go get a true leader … Our coaching staff is weak and we are not developing our players…

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    1. Another, more accurate way to put it: “the powers that be” at USC have killed Trojan Football. The program needs a complete transfusion from top to bottom. We’ve become The Walking Dead. Alums, fans, administration SHOULD be horrified by the impostor that shows up on the field this season, calling itself USC…

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  8. With the level of talent we have, our coaching to get USC to this result against Utah is abysmal. A clean slate seems the only viable option. Maybe Phil Steele can give his statistical analysis of the best D1 coaches out there given the talent at their disposal, as there is no way to trust Swann, Haden, or any other AD appointee to make the right hire…

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  9. Daniels may or may not be the answer moving forward. He is, after all, a True Freshman and will get better. I will declare it again, The Paul Hackett 2.0 era is upon us.

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  10. USC has always out recruited every team in the conference since forever, even during the sanction years. The overwhelming talent USC recruits just isn’t being developed, especially under Helton and his staff. Helton has been at USC since 2010, there’s nothing more anybody needs to see…the man flat out can’t coach worth a damn.

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  11. USC has always out recruited every team in the conference since forever, even during the sanction years. The overwhelming talent USC recruits just isn’t being developed, especially under Helton and his staff. Helton has been at USC since 2010, there’s nothing more anybody needs to see.

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  13. Everybody in the world had Utah winning this game (except me). So no, it’s not some unexpected disaster. They got beat very cleanly. They still have a very reasonable path to the Rose Bowl. I know that’s upsetting to Scottie. But it’s the truth. They have an extremely easy Pac-12 schedule.

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    1. Oh STOP. The Rose Bowl deserves much better than this outfit can bring! It’s one thing for SC football to have been degraded by this coaching staff, and another that the Rose should be degraded too. Give me a break! SC isn’t even a top 30 team.

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    2. I had SC winnng, in my heart. But with Martin calling the offense and what we have seen, Utah was given the better chance

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  14. This from the SLC Tribune…says it all:
    “Fitting it was that such a key game in this year’s race came against the South’s marquee program, a team that generations of Pac-12 fans and college football observers around the country have long considered one of the nation’s biggest brands.
    That brand sagged and suffered and suffocated on Saturday night.

    For the visitors in the familiar cardinal-and-gold helmets, with all due respect, this game featured one of the strangest offensive game-plans ever devised.”

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  15. “Offensive coordinator Tee Martin’s play calling has made absolutely no sense all season. Martin has a true freshman quarterback in J.T. Daniels, but rather than simplify things for him, he’s made the offense more complicated. The strategy with a young quarterback is to create easy reads, quick passes, run-pass options, etc. Instead, USC has rarely opted for quick reads, runs virtually no RPOs and most of their routes involve receivers running at least 10 to 15 yards down field. It’s mind-bogglingly stupid.”

    https://thebiglead.com/2018/10/20/clay-helton-usc-fired/

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  16. From the link that Dean posted:

    Clay Helton and USC appear to be headed for a breakup. After what can only be termed a wildly disappointing first seven games of the 2018 season, it’s clear the Trojans need to head in another direction.

    Given the talent at his disposal, Helton and his coaching staff have consistently underachieved. They haven’t earned the right to stay.

    I need to be clear about one thing: Clay Helton is an amazing human being. In the cesspool that is college athletics, Helton is one of the few truly good guys. He’s really easy to root for and, to be clear, he’s not without his positive qualities. Kids love playing for him and he’s a dynamite recruiter. That said, his shortcomings have become too much for USC’s football program to overcome on a weekly basis.

    Helton won a Rose Bowl in his first full year as head coach, then wound up winning the Pac-12 in 2017. He’s also never lost a home game. That’s a lot of success. But both of those teams were high-wire acts orchestrated by the brilliant Sam Darnold. In reality, those two years were a house of cards that barely survived some stiff breezes.

    The team lacks a killer instinct as it has the last two years. The Trojans never seem to put teams away, even when they wind up finding ways to win. Saturday night against Utah, the Trojans led 14-0 early and had all the momentum, then proceeded to allow 34 unanswered points in a 41-28 loss.

    USC boasts a wildly talented defense that has largely performed well when not hung out to dry by the offense. But that offense has been nothing short of a disaster. The issues that bubbled just below the surface over the past two seasons have erupted this year to create a serious mess.

    Offensive coordinator Tee Martin’s play calling has made absolutely no sense all season. Martin has a true freshman quarterback in J.T. Daniels, but rather than simplify things for him, he’s made the offense more complicated. The strategy with a young quarterback is to create easy reads, quick passes, run-pass options, etc. Instead, USC has rarely opted for quick reads, runs virtually no RPOs and most of their routes involve receivers running at least 10 to 15 yards down field. It’s mind-bogglingly stupid.

    Things don’t all fall on Martin. The offensive line is a complete mess. Despite loads of talent, offensive line coach Neil Callawayhasn’t developed a solid unit in his two years on the job. Opposing defenses live in USC’s backfield, which has made running the football nearly impossible.

    RELATEDLynn Swann, Clay Helton Need To Make Major Changes At USC

    Despite a wealth of offensive talent, USC gained just 99 yards in the first half against Utah Saturday night, and finished with just 205. Daniels finished the game 6-for-16 for 89 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. He left in the fourth quarter after sustaining a concussion. The Trojans wound up running the ball 31 times for just 73 yards. It was ugly.

    USC has three elite wide receivers in Michael Pittman Jr., Tyler Vaughns and Amon-Ra St. Brown. Instead of isolating them one-on-one out wide and getting them the ball quickly, Martin has repeatedly done the opposite.

    Callaway and Martin are both long-time friends of Helton. While the team could likely improve if the head coach brought in an innovative, autonomous offensive coordinator and a new line coach, Helton picked these guys. It’s on him. Putting his friends in key positions on the staff will wind up being his downfall.

    Martin has a lot of great qualities. He’s been one of the best recruiters in the country for years and would probably make a fine head coach somewhere. But he’s not an offensive coordinator. Callaway needs to either retire or coach at a Group of Five school. That’s his level.

    Helton almost certainly won’t be fired in-season. But the goal at USC is to compete for national championships. That will never happen with the current coaching staff in place. High-profile blowout losses to Alabama and Ohio State showed how far the Trojans have to go to compete with the big boys. This year’s losses to Texas and Utah showed the gulf may have actually widened since last year’s Cotton Bowl.

    I think Helton might be able to buy himself time if he brought in a dynamite offensive coordinator and a new offensive line coach, then allowed them to build a new system from the ground up. But, again, Helton is a really good guy. I don’t see him firing his friends and being ruthless in his search of assistant coaches to replace them.

    I don’t know who I’d pick to replace Helton, but given USC’s resources, tradition, fertile recruiting grounds and top-flight facilities, it shouldn’t be hard to find a top-tier head coach.

    The question now falls on USC’s administrators. Do they have the guts to make some hard decisions? It’s time for someone to step up, show some leadership there and do what’s best for the long-term health of the football program.

    Sadly, that means moving on from a great guy who just happens to not be on USC’s level.

    Helton stepped in and provided stability for a program desperate for some form of leadership. Unfortunately, that is no longer good enough.

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    1. Thanks for posting. This is really spot on. Helton is an extremely nice guy whom the kids love, and he recruits well, but he and his assistants can’t put together a reasonable game plan, execute, or make adjustments when needed. Worst of all, these kids deserve so much better leadership. They must feel like there is no adult in the room. Helton’s qualities slot him an assistant with recruiting responsibilities.

      Lots of coaching talent out there. If anybody watched the Purdue-OSU game, the Purdue coach has really turned that program around. Not saying that is the guy to go for, just that there are plenty of coaches out there who could dominate in this conference with SC talent, and who could have SC competing with top teams.

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      1. By: Ryan Phillips | 13 hours ago
        Follow @RumorsandRants

        For some reason when I pasted the article it left off the writer who wrote it. He definitely is spot on and deserves recognition so there he is…above.

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  19. The problem is more than the coach. It’s systemic. It’s an unqualified coach with an incompetent staff, an AD that has done nothing but smile for the camera, a previous AD who just went through the motions, an interim university president with no executive management experience, a prior president that was morally bankrupt, and, sadly, a board of trustees that has oversight responsibility for the welfare of the university, including its students, faculty, staff, alumni, facilities, and institutional brand that has been MIA. This board has watch and/or facilitated the whole mess.

    Tighten your seat belts. We’re in for a helluva ride . . .

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  21. USC will only fire Helton if he has a losing season. As much as it hurts me, I will cheer against the Trojans this year, a losing season seems to be the only way that USC will replace “nice guy” Helton.

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  22. If I’m a part of the offense at USC, I’m not sure how I look the defense in the eye right now. Teams give us the pass and we can’t take it, they give us the run and we can’t take it. So, we bend the defense over and make them take it. Nice. As you see, being weak at O-Line and QB sends ripples through the whole team. We don’t have the offensive line, schemes, ideas or QB to take advantage of what teams give us, let alone the talent we have. We can’t consistently form a clean pocket or run the ball consistently. This isn’t the environment for a freshman pocket-passer and it seems that broken-field football with a scrambling QB is what we’re best at offensively. It was the same way with Sam and we need to stop pretending that we have what we need to run a buttoned-down, by-the-book offense that’s capable of putting together drives and controlling games. That’s a freaking fantasy at this point, let it go.

    I’m not going after a concussed freshman after a tough loss as much as I’m going after all the people that hyped him up. I also realize that the O-line and staff that have failed to provide a wholesome environment for him are part of the problem too. However, the first time I saw him play, I didn’t see what all the fuss was about and I basically said that here. After watching him for 7 games, his arm doesn’t seem to be strong OR accurate to me. What was everyone else seeing and falling in love with the first time they saw him? Was it the hair? Was it the system??? How could it have been his arm? Seriously, what does he do that’s so special? I’ve seen him throw 2 nice fades to the front right corner of the end zone. I see other freshmen QBs around the country doing a lot more and looking a lot better to my eye. I don’t see the arm talent even when he has time and has people open. While he is a little slippery, he’s knock-kneed and you can’t say his mobility is special either. I feel like a dyck, but I’ve been holding back for awhile. Welcome to the bright lights and big city, kid. Unfortunately, I think it will take the doctor taking the choice away from Coach Helton for the change to be made, but it needs to be made. Some change is going to come one way or another and I don’t think inflexibility on the part of the head coach is the answer.

    BTW, I’m tired of hearing about how well our QBs bounce back from throwing interceptions. They said it with Sam and now they’re saying it with JT. With all the different kinds of confidence I want my QBs to have, that one is pretty far down the list. What a mess the offense is.

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      2. I wouldn’t throw the ball to Tyler Petit either. We don’t have a less coordinated offensive player than Tyler Petit. Very little hand-eye coordination and athleticism with TP. The ball has to be at the numbers or he’s not catching it. On one of Colorado’s onsides kicks, he made the most unathletic, uncoordinated attempt at the ball I’ve ever seen from someone purportedly to be on the “hands” team. If you’re talking about Daniel I or Falo, okay, but I don’t want to see more of Tyler Petit in the passing game. More Stephen Carr in the passing game would be great, but we don’t know how to run screen plays. The structured stuff that we have is BS and we’re better off just going with someonoe who can create. I think we got our playbook from the inside of a kids’ cereal box or something.

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      3. The truth is weirdos babble garbages longer because all they got is time. The weirder they are, the longer they bark nonsense hoping they could somehow look a little less weird than they really are.

        I really love your handle, btw. Can’t agree with it more!

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  23. We have had losing seasons before and we will probably have them again, but what makes these losses feel so bad is the fact that they were preventable. There is NO EXCUSE for our line play. Do you mean to tell me these are the five or six best blockers on the team? There is NO EXCUSE for the bizarre play calling. Do you mean to tell me your predictable one dimension offense is college ready? There is NO EXCUSE for stubbornly keeping underachieving student athletes in a game. Do you mean to tell me we have no backups on a full roster?
    Other, or should I say well coached teams bench players for the benefit of the team what is your example?
    I could go on but my thumbs are getting more tired than our eleven hand picked players get by the end of the three and out.

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  24. The entire offense is affected by the incompetence of Martin and Calloway.Martin controls the offense and receivers. Calloway, the O-Line. That is the mind set and the backbone to the offense. I see the mind set is brain dead and their is no backbone to the offense. Helton should have fired them when they got back to the office this morning. Move Drevino to the o line and over see the rbs. Truly evaluate the qbs this week and start the best one. That could be Sears as well.

    Fink did an outstanding job by seeing him move the offense. If this continues, then ugly and nutre dome will beat sc, soundly

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    1. Second that! (Would give a thumbs up, but Scott’s software won’t allow me to do that – go figure). Leadership has been missing from the University for years. Can’t remember which of the group said that the University couldn’t even hire a good janitor, but that is right on. Right now, the product on the field is painful to watch. Helton is widely acknowledged to have integrity. In that case, he should negotiate his buyout and resign. No way he can look in the mirror every day and think that he should be coaching this team. He could have fooled himself when Sam was here, but no longer.

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