USC coach Clay Helton was asked Thursday about the Yahoo Sports report that an untrained third party from the Pac-12 office overruled a targeting call on Washington State against Trojans quarterback JT Daniels a few weeks ago.

Helton deferred to the conference and reiterated his confidence in Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott.

The report by Pete Thamel noted that the play, in which Daniels had his knee down on the ground when Cougars linebacker Logan Tago lunged at him and made clear helmet-to-helmet contact, drew a flag for roughing the passer and a review for targeting.

Both the in-stadium replay officials and replay officials in the Pac-12's command center ruled the play as targeting, according to the internal report obtained by Yahoo Sports, but Pac-12 general counsel and senior vice president of business affairs Woodie Dixon phoned in his opinion that the play wasn't targeting.

Scott later released a statement to Yahoo saying, "We've come to the conclusion that we made a mistake in our procedure. We want to eliminate any ambiguity from that." The report also noted the Pac-12 will eliminate any influence from director of officiating David Coleman and Dixon during the in-game replay review process.

Helton said the play in question was not one the Trojans submitted to the conference for review or with a complaint.

He didn't address the Yahoo report directly when asked, speaking more generally about his trust in the conference leadership.

"I've been mostly concentrating on Colorado, to be honest with you. I think the only thing I've really read up on is the hurricane in Florida because my family's there," Helton said. "But the one thing that I've always thought in my 24 years and been very happy with is both the NCAA as well as my nine years in the Pac-12, they've always made the priority of safety with the student-athlete priority 1. And I know that's always going to be the case.

"Larry's a good leader. He's going to do his job and take action and whatever he needs to do. I've got an organization to run here, which I'm trying to run, but I've had great experiences with the Pac-12 in my nine years and I know they'll do whatever action is needed to make sure things are going right."