FOOTBALL

Sunday Night With Clay Helton

Clay Helton confirmed JT Daniels tore his ACL and meniscus. And he reiterated Kedon Slovis will start against Stanford.

“We have a lot of confidence in Kedon,” Helton said. “We’ll roll with whoever’s healthy and expect them to go make plays.”

Whoever’s healthy is Slovis and Matt Fink at the moment, thanks to Helton’s mismanaging of the QB situation.

Helton said Daniels will redshirt and have three years of eligibility left.

Now get this: Helton said he would go for it on 4th down without question. Truly a buffoon.

37 thoughts on “Sunday Night With Clay Helton”

    1. 67 —May I amend that statement about going for it on 4th downs to read, “except ANY Helton coached team w/o Sam Darnold on it”? Helton’s teams aren’t prepared in meetings or practice for the pressure of those situations. And that’s not my opinion —it’s the opinion of seasoned USC football beat writers and broadcasters— commenting on Helton making crazy 4th down calls during his coliseum losing streak…..
      #…LikeAllGoofballs,HeltonGamblesAtAllTheWrongTimes

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      1. Michael, Helton is living in an echo chamber. I think he actually believes what he says, even though no one else in the room does.

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      2. 67 — I wonder if Helton believes what he’s saying anymore. I remember when then- Cassius Clay was asked if he feared ancient veteran Archie Moore. He said “Archie doesn’t believe he can win, he doesn’t even care if he wins anymore—but he’s dangerous cuz he’s only doing it for the money.” Helton answers questions dishonestly ….and smiles. It’s the smile of a man who’s only in it for the money… and who no longer cares whether he wins or not. No serious coach could have acted like such a slap happy dope at the post game presser if he truly cared about correcting the myriad problems on his team.
        #Helton’sPhilosophy:RideThisThingOutAsFarAsItTakesHim…

        Liked by 3 people

      3. He is in way over his head. Sadly, Swann gave him reportedly a $15 million buyout. What was Swann possibly thinking in doing that? Nikias and the Board presumably had to sign off on the buyout as well.

        SMDH

        Liked by 3 people

      4. I would love to have Swann and Helton hooked to lie detectors and ask them what they thought of each other…..
        #Afterward:BetTheyWouldn’tBeFriendsAnymore….

        Liked by 3 people

    2. Is no one going to mention that with one score lead Helton had the offense snapping the ball with 20 seconds left in the play clock. He has no game awareness!

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  3. Well, SC should have found it has a running game and a porous offensive line against the rush. Instead of capitalizing on that it has been decided to double down on the Air Raid pass first offense and drop back QB. So SC can “fight on” but not necessarily with their strengths.

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    1. Any coach can win by maximizing his strengths. Only great coaches win by emphasizing their weaknesses…
      #HeltonIsMoreManlyThanSabanOrMeyer….
      #…TheyDon’tHaveTheGutsToMakeThingsToughOnThemselves….
      #…WhereasHeltonIsAlwaysTryingToMutiplyTheDifficultyFactorByTen…

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  4. Washington defense figured out Leach . Play 5 -6 yards deep and keep everything in front of you. That has lead them to beating Wash St mostly decisively sent Petersen came

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    1. True —but they probably would have lost last year if they didn’t get to play in a snowstorm…
      #BlizzardsHurtAirRaidOffenses

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      1. Washington has won every game under Petersen by substantial margin since hes been there regardless of the weather

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  5. The 4th down call might have been the worst call I have ever witnessed. There was no momentum on USC’s side. They had 3-4 yards to go. Inexperienced QB in a pressure situation at mid field. If it was on the USC’s 25 yard line take a shot. But not on the 50 for God’s sake with the game in the balance. We have some hot shot Aussie kicker so let him pin them down deep. Clay is so out of his league and over his head I actually feel sorry for him. I am scared he might hurt himself and others. He is actually not good enough for Western KY. What a humiliating embarrassment he is.

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    1. I wish Helton could bring as much honest emotion into his coaching as you put into that comment, Linkster.
      #OurCoachIsFakingItThisSeason…..
      #HeWentForItCuzHisAttitudeIs”WhatTheHell?”

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  7. An washed up and unemployed beat writer with zero accomplishments calling a millionaire blue blood football coach a buffoon doesn’t carry much weight.

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    1. Kindergarten put downs of Scott can’t change the fact Helton is the recognized bottom of the barrel in one of the weaker conferences in the country. And, as for the many millions Helton’s made off of a very poorly run university—-please don’t remind us….
      #…It’dBeNiceIfHeGaveHalfOfHisSalaryBackToFootballProgram…

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      2. I wouldn’t even come here except the dude keeps popping up on my bleacher report feed. All he does is poke at USC fans and disparage the university. He has forever, even when Pete was guiding the best program in the country. Only a few would try and defend him. With all he has said in regard to JT I know he is excited that this happened. He is that much of a punk. I don’t feel sorry he got fired. I don’t feel
        bad that he in unwelcome at practice. I am tired of his pathetic act. So if he pops up on my bleacher report, I will pop in here to remind him that he is a hack. I know he reads the comments. I also know that he posts comments as well.

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      3. Just so you know —
        I get it. Temperatures are starting to run high. And, yes, Clay Helton takes a lot of cheap shots from all of us on this site. It’s just the frustration talking. “Hitting back” needs to be done —but it needs to be done by Clay and the Trojans vs. the Pac 12 —not Scott. Coaches actually said they were going to “out physical” us last year. Where is our swagger —not in the opening drive –but in crunch time? When you decide to go for it on 4th & 1 –you’d better be ready to die for that 1 yard. The ballsy part is not deciding to do it —it’s DOING IT. It’s like a bar fight —once you take a swing, it’s on. You’d better know what you’re doing —or it’s better to back down and walk to your car.
        Like most everybody else on this site, I hope Clay can salvage the season—starting with Stanford next Saturday. But being nice and/or playing the spin game is not gonna get it done. Helton needs to tell his players this game is do or die…..& no Trojan dies easy.

        Liked by 2 people

    2. Tessalone, is that you? Mrs Nikkias? Haden?! Eat a bowl of cawks, idiot. Truth hurts, unfortunately, and Wolf is calling out the obvious Gong Show that is not only SC Football, but the entire (mis)-management of the entire University. It’s a joke.

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  8. We have all known that Helton’s judgment (starting off with Browne over Darnold) is just way off and he demonstrated it again through his poor game management and with the decision to not start Jack Sears: “We have a lot of confidence in Kedon” and “We’ll roll with whoever is healthy”. He has more confidence in Kedon than Jack Sears or even Matt Fink? JT played fairly well -even though he left a lot of points on the field- but everyone knows that Sears should’ve started. Here is the real problem though: Helton compounds every bad mistake by following it up with an even worse one (like starting Clovis who does not look ready -YET). Love SC football and will always support the team as a fan, however, Clay Helton is not the man to lead this team to relevance.

    #FireClayHelton
    #SCdidshowimprovementindifferentareas

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. Arturo –yeah, there were improvements –and I think we all (especially me) owe Drevno an apology. He’s actually undoing the damage Callaway did to the offensive line [and I think he’s figuring out who should play and who should sit].

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  10. Clay Helton’s football ignorance is frightening, and it’s no wonder that Lane Kiffin, and Steve Sarkisian gave him an irreverent coaching position on their staff.

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  13. The problem with this is now Swann will give Helton a pass on the results of this year due to the “key” QB injury. Next man up philosophy not in play

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    1. NAH!!! if anything they have to put in a q/b at some point who can actually move and throw…like when Sam finally given the team…that turned the program around and hellton became swanies guy…the only improvement so far over last yr is what I had hope…Drevno knows tough football, and he may get enough improvement on the ‘O’ line with a mobil q/b to get SC going in spite of hellton trying to destroy SC football

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  14. Leach had no running game. USC has a decent one. It will keep Washington honest. The real question is how the qb competition will be next year with 2 sophomore qbs with a year under belt and Bryce Young coming in if he does.

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  15. After giving it some thought, wondering why they passed over two experienced quarterbacks for two high school kids, and I found the answer was right in front of me. Harrell said in so many ways, the two front runners had the least amount to unlearn of the old system. On top of that factor in the Harrell and Helton position prejudices (they both are old warhorse quarterbacks) and you have your answers. Harrell said, “JT I don’t even know what you are talking about.” When discussing Daniels’ question about coverage. He said, “Just throw the ball to the open receivers.” And
    The air raid offense is really just hybrid high school stuff anyway, so these two are perfect.
    Moving forward USC needs to focus on line play and breaking open running lanes. It was a pleasant surprise to see the run work against an experienced defensive line, but I give that to the running backs, not the line.
    USC also needs to stop being so damned predictable. If I were going for it on fourth down l would have sent the the punter out. Who is going to stop that guy? Have you seen his video? He played without a helmet and once he gets a head of steam, he might score.

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