FOOTBALL

Was There Another Near Blunder Vs. Notre Dame?

I guess this is John Baxter Day.

A USC coach told me last night the Trojans did not inform the officials of a jersey switch before the on-side kick at the end of the Notre Dame game.

USC has to inform the refs if a player changed jersey numbers on the kickoff.

Does that mean if USC recovered the kick the officials would have forced the Trojans to kick again? The way the Pac-12 officials worked that game, nothing would surprise me.

Remember USC had the infamous moment to start the season with two players wearing No. 7 on a kick return.

  • By the way, of all the plays being discussed that the referees botched, how about the picture above of Tyler Vaughns being held in the end zone?
  • Clay Helton, the king, is 8-13 against Power Five opponents when Sam Darnold does not play quarterback for USC.

6 thoughts on “Was There Another Near Blunder Vs. Notre Dame?”

  1. Lay off Helton, this team is fighting like hell there is no reason to add more pressure to him or the team. He should have a contract extension, class act the kids love him and are playng to their potental

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      1. marvienna —I suspect John Smith is punking us. Of course, Helton shouldn’t be given an extension — he should be given a truncation.
        [But that doesn’t mean we didn’t get fucked over in South Bend. Helton could have recorded his 2nd win over a top 10 team if the officials played it straight]…..

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    2. Thank you, Mrs. Helckett. Nice try. By the way, talk to “the kids”, and observe them. They’ve basically quit on Clay. I doubt even Ken Hart could defend his coaching now.

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  2. First, Helton is not the world’s worst coach. But he’s, for a variety of reasons (including Scott and Petros), perceived to be the world’s worst coach. Officials don’t operate in a news vacuum. They’re as aware as everybody else that Helton is disrespected & probably on the way out. When he points out an appalling call or non call, the thought going through their mind is “who gives a shit?” That is not the thought going through officials’ mind when Saban yells at them. Against Notre Dame we saw a tight end commit an offensive interference that dwarfs anything Pittman did when he was called for a penalty 2 games ago, every single time we were about to get a sack we got held, Kelly walked 25 feet on to the field of play during the game —-nothing Notre Dame did wrong was “seen” by the Pac 12 officials. Notre Dame is a respected program with a respected coach. We aren’t “seen” in the same light.
    #OfficialsMakeTheDifferenceInCloseGames…
    #USC27,NotreDame30

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