FOOTBALL

Discuss The USC-Colorado Game

These are the type of games that show why Clay Helton needs to go. He takes his team up to Boulder and needs fourth-quarter heroics from Michael Pittman and Kedon Slovis to beat mediocre Colorado.

USC’s defense was soft and could not contain the edge. Slovis fumbled several times but Colorado never recovered.

It was a bad Pac-12 game but USC is supposed to be better than this. Helton teams frequently play down to the level of their opponents.

It was a win but does anyone feel all that great? Maybe if you are a coach. Or a player. Or a fanboy.

USC needs to be better than this.

49 thoughts on “Discuss The USC-Colorado Game”

  1. I am not a coach. Or a fanboy. But I’m happy. Very happy. At the last minute something (probably Owns) told me not to take the points and bet this game….
    #ThankYouFromTheBotomOfMyHeart,Owns
    P.S.
    I am proud of this team for battling back. They had to overcome a lot (including their coach’s lack of imagination on offense) to pull this out. Hats off to them.

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    2. MG, from what I hear, the victorious bozos had substantial help from some really ugly officiating by the refs.

      I am shocked.

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      2. I was told by a successful Los Angeles politician that —no matter how sincere your fellow pol seems when making a promise —you always have to reserve a 15% chance for the double cross. When playing in the Pac 12 you always have to factor in the inexplicable calls of the hapless Pac 12 refs….
        #….SometimesTheyHelp,SometimesTheyHurt…
        #[Let’sSeeHowYouGuysDoWithThemToday]….

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Yes and no, James. Ringing bells is not luck —Pete utilized it to great advantage with Taylor Mays taking star receivers out early in the game.

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      3. MG
        Agreed and I am total proponent of physicality to include the intimidation aspects…but when this happens under Clancy, as opposed to Pete…they were, as the ESPN piece put it in what is barely credible journalistic reporting…flat out lucky…
        As always, credit to the players…they have not went down the 1983 Tollner or 91 Smith or any Hackett team ratholes, continuing to fight and somewhat bandaid and mask Helton & Co.’s incompetence…good on them…

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  3. Slovis got the crap beaten out of him and still threw for 400 yards, 4 TD, and completed 70 percent of his passes.

    Pendergast gives up over 500 yards to a mediocre at best team. He is on par with Neil Calloway.

    Luckily, Colorado is an even more undisciplined team than SC, with somewhere around 12 penalties. Otherwise the probably would have won.

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    1. 67 — I hope Slovis is starting to settle the question of who should start next season. Yes, he’s green. Yes, he makes some bone headed mistakes. But —when all is said and done –the kid is a lot more than a talented thrower —he’s A FOOTBALL PLAYER. I like J.T. but there is no way he could have taken those hits tonight and stayed in the game —let alone take the team to a winning score in the final minutes.

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    3. Slovis also made WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY to many Freshman mistakes at this stage of the season, those should have been coached out by now, but we all know about the coaching at USC these days

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      2. Dead on correct. That’s part of why he (and the other QBs) absorb so many hard hits (aside from the terrible OL play/coaching and overall offensive scheme/gameplan)…control freak sideline chateau general coaching instead of developmental coaching…only prepared to run the play as called and not to read and check out of auto fails…

        And to read the sycophantic apologists comments…nauseating…a big part of why enterprises fail is the willingness of people to accept increasingly lower standards…

        Well, they got what they wanted…we can only hope (for those of us who don’t accept 3 loss Pac 12 South contender as the standard) that soon this disaster is terminated.

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      3. James —It almost sounds like you’re not a proponent of the “I only get involved when it’s 3rd and long” school of coaching.
        #MaybeIt’sAViolationOfOurSecretAgreementWithNCAA..
        #..ForHeltonToCoachOtherThanFromSidelinesDuringGames…
        #[WhichWouldExplainALotOfDelayOfGamePenalties]….

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      4. MG
        You know what I mean by Chateaux Generalship…the play clock bleeding down while great young men are reduced to being cattle standing around looking at the sideline…no need for it, given how much more simplified this offense is compared to say the offense that Palmer and Leinart ran…just bad coaching…

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      5. James —Helton is trying his ass off —I mean just look at that blanched face and wide, wide open eyes on the sidelines. He’s stretched to the limit of his abilities —pulling out everything he’s got in that meager bag of tricks of his. I’ve seen that look in trial attorneys’ eyes when they’re trying to remember stuff during trial that’s supposed to come instinctively (“what do I do when the judge disallows a piece of evidence?”). Helton isn’t gonna get any better —we’ve already seen in his ceiling. Let him finish out the year and see how far he can get —but announce Meyer’s hiring as soon as reasonably possible. We need to save recruiting and start getting ready for a battle royal with Saban.

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  4. Pretty simple if we are happy with these type of performances we are stuck in non relevancy in the National picture. I cant believe a school with this kind of capability in recruting is okay with this ? Get used to 8-4 seasons

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    1. So true. Go to ESPN’s website (yes, ESPN sucks and is an SEC propaganda outlet, but it’s that that USC has to overcome if it is ever to regain its former/proper place atop college football) – not a word, not an indication that they played a Friday night game. Not even the score on the main page. You have to do the go to scores, then sort for all or Pac 12 just to even see that the program exists. Compare that to Alabama or Ohio State. Compare that to USC of 10 years ago. Once you reach that, read more inane/asinine Helton comments about winning championships and controlling destiny and beating a good team on the road playing good ball and how he can’t be more proud of a team.

      Disgusting.

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      1. You throw out the journalism word a little too easily. What does Scottie have to do with journalism?

        Clay Helton is better at coaching than Scottie is at writing. Plus Clay actually is employed, so it’s an actual job.

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      2. Howard Cosell had to deal with that kind of thinking his whole career, gt. Every time he’d render an opinion that offended someone’s sensibilities he’d hear the “you never boxed” or “you didn’t play the game.” Fans wanted Frank Gifford’s ‘nuanced’ analysis instead.

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    1. One more win and we’re bowl worthy! Things look so bright!
      #ThisMayBeMyFavoriteYearOfTrojanFootball
      #ALotOfTeamsWouldDieToBe5-3[ThinkUCLA]

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    2. The kids played with a lot of heart. They are saving the asses of Helton, Pendergast, et. al. The players deserve so much better. Including combat pay, because the coaching staff is not doing their job and is putting all of the guys at risk.

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  7. I feel sorry for those in the program, I hate to see them lose as athletes…we are rooting for the cancer to win by rooting for hellton led slow death program…some are very conflicted and don’t see the gravity of not cutting out/destroying the cancer by whatever will save the program…

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    1. I’m with you all the way, Tim. My (admittedly) Pollyanna hope is that Clay wins the Pac 12 & rides out a winner WHILE AT THE SAME TIME USC is secretly working out a 10 year $100 million deal with Urban Meyer to save us from Saban in 2020….
      #….TermsOfDealToBeAnnouncedOneSecondAfterUCLAGameEnds….

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  8. “To walk out of here still on top of the Pac-12 South is special.” – cCH
    Crank, crank, crank… ya hear that? It’s the sound of a bar being lowered. Clap, clap, clap… ya hear that? It’s the sound of helton apologists who think it’s evil to want something more than the brave warrior participation ribbons points to as proof of a job well done. Special huh? That’s an insult to any/all Trojans who actually did something worthy of the label. Taking a charter flight all the way to the mean streets of a half filled, half high, stadium in sleepy Boulder, CO to play a team with half the athletes, half the budget, and none of the pampering, only to need late rally to win is not special. Matter of fact it used to be called “expected”. Similar to how I/we used to expect that kids wouldn’t bring automatic weapons to school, or that our elected officials would serve with dignity, or… some may get my diluted point about the lessons a good man would teach his son and how that pays dividends down the road. Others will say “atta boy clay, keep feeding that locker room cotton candy, look how happy those precious cherubs are” and then wonder why so many cavities next fall when we find ourselves at the dentist’s office facing Dr. Saban.

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    1. Perfectly said…

      Even the apologists on the Peristyle have recently admitted that all one needs to do is ask what would this year’s team’s record be if Meyer would have been the coach (answer 8-0 after last night)…

      Anyone who has had a hand in this awful staff sticking around the past two years should also be shown the exit…can’t blame fans who wish players well and who hope for the best…

      There is only one way up from the continuing series of new lows that Helton manages…

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    2. So right on about Helton’s clueless banter after the game. It’s such pablum that the paper usually only uses one quote because they are trying to sell the paper not trash it.
      From now on I am calling BS on his press briefing as he is the rare and not so elusive Duckballs Platitudepuss.
      The man is as useless as the unused lifeboat arms on the Titanic.

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      2. Well my phone wouldn’t spell davits so I said arms. In reality the Titanic crew was issued small arms for protection against pirates I guess.

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  9. My friend played at Florida and won the NATTY with Stoops and Spurrier. He is now a coach there. He hit me up last night about the JV games on Friday, like a low level high school team. And about how Florida has the true anyone, anywhere, anytime title. I had to admit that we are not shit any more. Then he actually consoled me.

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  10. “ we are 2-0 in the second half of the season and we just beat a very good Colorado team at home. Our goal of a Pac12 south and overall Pac12 title is in our destiny” couldnt be prouder of these guys.

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  11. USC is still a very mediocre team in a very mediocre conference and light years from ever being in the national championship conversation. How this pitiful situation is handled will tell us a lot about Ms. Folt re: her leadership ability and commitment to institutional excellence.

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  12. It’s rather shocking that so many Trojans are satisfied with being in the hunt for the coveted Pac-12 south championship. The standard of excellence has gone to a new low. Helton is the Barry Soweto of coaches. He has set the bar for “the new normal”. Ackkk

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  13. GRAHAM HARREL IS THE WORST DAMN OFFENCE COACH IN THE ENTIRE GOD’S GREEN EARTH ALL YOU PEOPLE MUST START TALKING ABOUT THAT

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