FOOTBALL

Sunday Night With Clay Helton

Clay Helton confirmed what I wrote earlier today: Graham Harrell called the plays.

“Ultimately, Graham is making all the calls,” Helton said.

  • Asked about the ill-fated pass play on third down of the overtime, Helton said: “The right play was called. They made a play. One more play than us.”
  • Helton said Harrell, “called a great game.”

Actually, BYU made quite a few more plays than USC.

  • Helton said USC lost because it committed three turnovers (to BYU’s 0) and was only 6 for 17 on third down. He also claimed USC’s youth hurt it as four young players gave up four plays for 150 yards.
  • Helton said the BYU loss reminded him of USC’s loss at Utah in 2016, which was Sam Darnold‘s first start.
  • Helton said defensive end Christian Rector is close to returning. He said he will know about cornerback Greg Johnson (shoulder) tomorrow.

43 thoughts on “Sunday Night With Clay Helton”

    1. MG
      When Han Solo said “It’s not my fault” in Empire, it was humorous and endearing…it has never seemed anything other than lame and blame excuse-making and finger-pointing from Helton…

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      1. James — Good observation –there really is something unsavory about his lazily muddled evasions (and the way the L. A. press automatically accepts them).
        Off Point –Isn’t Chip Kelly looking more like Jabba The Hutt every game? Same eyes. Same chin(s). Same death smile. The way he grabbed Jalen Hurts after the game, held his face close and whispered to him for over a minute (obviously telling him he was the kinda QB he would die for) musta made the bruin QB feel great.

        Liked by 3 people

    2. James — On the one hand, I guess Clay’s now in a position where he simply can’t tell the truth (i.e., we aren’t physical enough, we aren’t getting much out of our strength and conditioning coaches, I’ve made a terrible mistake in letting so many practices go by without tackling, etc., etc). In order to get through one more week he needs to say that USC was ” one play from victory” —which technically is true but misses the larger point (which is: USC SHOULD have kicked BYU’s ass). On the other hand, all the words in the world can’t save him from what’s gonna happen on Friday —Whittingham will happily go out of his way to end Helton’s career.
      [And I do not believe a word of this stuff about Harrell calling all the plays. Helton is a control psycho on offense & he’s admitted this freely thru the years — anyways, watch Harrell carefully when he speaks to the press on Tuesday]…….

      Liked by 4 people

      Reply

      1. IF THE QUOTE IS ACCURATE IT CONTAINS A CAVEAT… he ‘ultimately’ called the plays? what does that mean mostly,approximately,overall,majority…it does not convey he completely/totally called all plays on offense

        Liked by 2 people

      2. Good call, Tim. This is typical Helton weasel talk. Impossible to decipher ….and meant to be impossible to decipher. The only way you can decode it is to go back, examine what Clay said about his relationship with Tee and how all the playcalling was “by committee” and recogize that NOTHING has changed. Clay doesn’t change. It’s always the same old same old…..
        #…MisterGod&FamilyIsAtItAgain

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Michael —-we’d all be better off IF Helton were 100% inept. He’d be long gone Unfortunately, he drifts between 75% inept and 50% inept …and, under Nikias and Austin, that was more than good enough (if coupled with no sexual assault charges or bigamy).

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

      1. MG, I’m puzzled by the rah-rahs and sunshine pimps – what a shock uh?

        All summer long and into the fall the SUCCXsters demanded Helton relinquish the play-calling duties to Harrell. So, lo and behold, Helton mentions that Harrell called the BYU game, including Slovis’ loser, O/T Int.

        Clue me MG, why does Helton get a large stick up the ass for doing exactly as the rah-rah’s and pimps demanded?

        Why would U. Meyer want to be a part of such a CS FB program?

        Liked by 2 people

      2. My Dear Owns,
        I don’t think Helton relinquished dick to Harrell —it’s just not in him. He tells Harrell what he wants emphasized in the gameplan, who he wants to play, which 3 receivers will get 99% of the throws, etc. We both know that with Helton’s job on the line he’s gonna butt in whenever he wants to –which is all the time. Which makes Helton a liar. Yes, Owns, Helton is lying about Harrell being free to do whatever he wants. And poor Harrell is not gonna utter a peep to contradict him —cuz there’s probably nothing to be gained and maybe something to be lost by starting a very public fight with the boss.
        As for your Meyer observation, I’ve been wondering the same thing. Florida and Ohio State were not experiencing shit storms when Meyer signed on. He’d need to be convinced he was insulated from the death spiral the rest of the university seems to be in —and I’m not sure that’s possible.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. “Only at USC”, for sure. In terms of other prominent football universities, I don’t think that Helton would have ever been hired as an HC from the get-go because he had no track record. Only an “AD who was not an AD” (Pat Haden) would make that type of mistake.

      Assuming that Scottie’s salary numbers are accurate, then Haden, Swann and Helton have taken over $42 million from SC.

      Haden = 6 years at $3 million per year
      Swann = 4 years at $3 million per year (assuming one year severance)
      Helton = 3 plus years at $4 million per year

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

      5. ’67
        Helton is the opposite of the old line about Bear Bryant…
        “He can take his’n and lose to your’n…and he can take your’n and lose to his’n…”

        Liked by 2 people

  4. Helton stood by Harrell and while most here (myself included) want him gone he does confirm what has always been said about him. he’s a decent man and loyal. That doesn’t equal victories which is why, after 3+ years, he needs to leave and soon.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  5. What happened with Helton’s Air Raid hurry up offense? I watched the game and what I saw was long drawn out time before each play with Slovis flummoxed at the 8 deep defense being thrown at him. He had the deer in a headlight look like he did not practice facing this. The team was flat from the very first play. Did not have to fight to win. The Obi Wan Kenobi (wise man) of the 247 website has already come out and indicated that turning the team over to assistant coach Jinks is the only thing that would rescue the season. Wow! Somebody better do something for the players who deserve better.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

      1. owns, good to see you back from the Pacific, laddie.

        You asked “How about Them Bruins!” Well, since you asked…the bruins are….0-3, but they are definitely building towards…something. The exit of the Chipper is the best thing they could be building towards.

        #TheBest0-3TeamThatHasLostToCincy&SanDiegoState
        #ThankLincolnRileyForNotRunningUp70Yesterday
        #OtherwiseItIsAllGoodInWestwood

        Liked by 2 people

      2. 67—
        Our friend Owns must be feeling pretty happy about the state of Troy to knowingly leave himself that vulnerable……
        #AndHeMustBeFairlyDisgustedWithChip……

        Liked by 3 people

      3. Michael, I never visit the bruin sites so I don’t know if the mob mentality has emerged there, but I have to think that they must be calling for Chip’s and Chianti Dan’s head at this point.

        Chip is 5-26 since leaving the Eagles.

        2-14 with the ’49ers
        3-12 with the bruins

        And it could be 1-11 this year. They do have Oregon State for a potential lone 2019 victory.

        #PotentialVictory-OwnsDon’tGetYourHopesUp

        Liked by 2 people

      4. 67 –We should be able to dismantle the bruins UNLESS there is such indecision as to what to do about Helton that the team has lost all interest by November. The thing I’m worried about is recruiting —unless we get somebody who’s top notch soon —we’re gonna have something like the 60th rated incoming class in 2020.

        Liked by 3 people

  7. Florida and Ohio State were experiencing problems of the type that they care more about – not winning football games (and both had had a lot of off field issues under the preceding regimes as I recall – Florida has a long history of problems going back to Charlie Pell and the late 1970s)…

    Why would he deal with it? Because of his ego (good for us) and drive…how? as simple as contract provisions (and that is the long pole in all of this – heretofore, the other like institutions value hiring a top-level coach to rebuild their programs…the powers that be at USC have appeared to be more in the Miami mode of de-emphasizing football)…will they write in to a contract the demands he would insist on?

    Owns – have Chip, Mora, or any previous coaches ever complained about institutional constraints impacting their ability to do what they wanted to at UCLA? I haven’t followed it that closely but don’t seem recall ever having heard any such rumblings out of Westwood.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. Fortunately he’s a fast healer! Not to make light of…

        One suspects that he’s just one of those types that needs to be on campaign and not in the throne room or otherwise out to pasture…

        And as a lot of us have noted – it doesn’t have to be him, just (and I know that it’s not to be found growing on a tree in ample supply) someone of comparable demonstrated ability…

        Liked by 1 person

      2. GT, I wonder if the SC leadership would be willing to hire Meyer after the Zach Smith issue?

        After the Tyndall mess, I wouldn’t be shocked if they passed on him.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. That has been brought up consistently (and rightfully so)…why I’ve always been clear to try to say “Urban-like”…there’s so much baggage, at a school that has enough of a swamp on its hands…think we want the effect without that…

        But then that puts the onus back on the powers that be to finally conduct a successful search, when that has heretofore been off the playing board at USC…which in turn raises the question that many are pondering – pick your poison?

        Hire the devil, give him his due, try to pull a Devil Went Down To Georgia so to speak with a nice contract contingency (I’m getting at hiring him short-term to mutually satisfy our need to rebuild and his for cementing his legend, and build into that a plan of succession that he agrees to in tradeoff for giving him all of the control he’ll demand at the outset)…

        Is winning that important? No…but it’s so much more fun to fly my USC flag out front when they’re good…

        Liked by 1 person

      4. James, one person yesterday posted about Paul Chryst at Wisconsin. I think he would be outstanding. Old-school, midwest guy, and every year the Badgers overachieve, around a 10-3 record on average, despite the fact that their recruiting classes are in the 40s, year in and year out. Chryst and his staff really teach fundamentals. You hear scouts talk about how disciplined the players are, and how well the O-linemen learn their trade.

        Liked by 1 person

      5. I think that is very sound reasoning…

        Living out here in the flat lands, was just thinking this weekend about how Hayden Frye rebuilt Iowa, which in turn spun into Bill Snyder at K-State, Bob Stoopes at OU (with a staff including Brent Venables), and Mark Mangino at KU…and now K-State is 3-0 with a win at Starkville after having hired the coach from the best small college program in the country…

        It doesn’t have to be Meyers if you have a search that lands a coach like that…we just have never seen it happen at USC…but would love to see what would happen if they brought in a coach like Chryst…

        Liked by 1 person

  8. SCooter,

    It was three interceptions and a fumble for the qb. But didn’t Harrell and Helton help the kid out by playing Stepps? They should have leaned on the run game. Not a smart move.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a reply to Michael Guarino Cancel reply