Everything Clay Helton and players said after USC's narrow win at Arizona

Clay Helton opening statement ...

CH: "Great college football game. Lot of credit to Coach Sumlin and his team for the energy they brought, how tough they played. Those kids had a lot of heart today. And you know, looking at our football team, we, offensively, showed up late again. We missed some opportunities in the red zone that I thought could separate ourselves in the game in the second half. Being inside the 15 twice, coming away with no points wasn't good. Had the opportunity to separate and left a good team in. Credit to their kids offensively. I thought that they did a nice job of spreading the ball around and making some big plays down the field. And then at the end our kids did what they did last week, when it mattered the most. I didn't see any panic. They showed great poise to have a little bit over a minute on the clock with three timeouts, we felt extremely comfortable. It's what we do each and every week in practice each and every week and the guys executed to perfection. I thought again, I credit Graham because I thought we saw a lot of drop eight today and you had to lean on the run game. And the run game showed up again for about that 175 mark. And in the most critical situation, Graham went to it down in the red zone and great play by Vavae to get that ball in the end zone. So a Pac-12 win on the road. We're 1-0 on the week, 2-0 on the season. We'll get back home and get prepared for Utah next week."

What's the biggest difference between when things work offensively and when they don't?

CH: "Probably a little bit of both. It's again one of those games I think you're gonna look up, we had somewhere around 500 yards today, it felt like, and it was really our execution in the red zone that stood out to me. Anytime that you get it inside I think it was the 15-yard line twice, you come away with no points, that's your opportunity to separate yourself in the game. And that's something that we improved a little bit on this week, we gotta get more because I think this can be a 45-, 50-point offense when we're running on all cylinders. We improved a little bit in some areas. I'm really happy with the run game and how that is going. That's really the difference in us this year compared to last is that 175 we're putting up a game to take a little pressure off a really good quarterback that threw for another 300 and completes another 70% of balls that he'll tell you he didn't have his best day. Still, those are career days for most kids. We're fortunate to get out of here with a win. We improved in some areas, some other areas we gotta keep improving in. But I'm proud of the kids and their toughness and how they handle adversity. They're a tough-minded bunch."

Is there anything wrong with Kedon Slovis' arm?

CH: "I played the position before and there was a little wind down there, to be honest with you. When you were going towards our locker room there was a little bit of wind in your face and to be honest with you, on a really dry day, that ball can get slick on you a little bit. I know a couple slipped out of his hands. He found ways to execute down the stretch and I've always said, winners win, and he's a winner, and he found a way to win and execute when it mattered the most. That's what good quarterbacks do and he's done it two weeks in a row so thank goodness for him."

Given the red zone struggles, short-yardage struggles, offensive line and defensive lapses, what are your concerns coming out of this game?

CH: "You know, we're 2-0, 1-0 on the week. We're gonna go back home and continue to improve each and every week and find a way to get 1-0 next week against a good Utah team. And you know, the biggest thing, I know our kids really deal with reality well. They deal with the truth well. And there's some things that I know they know, and I told them in the locker room. There's some things that we need to get better at but celebrate all wins. Conference games on the road that you come out with, celebrate. And we're 1-0 on the week, 2-0 on the season. A lot of teams would like to be there."

How would you grade the offensive line?

CH: "I don't think we gave up a sack and we rushed for our mark of 175. So are there a couple things that we could do better? Yes, we had a I think a missed assignment on the one fourth and short that I would like to have back. But you give up zero sacks on the day and you hit our mark of 175, they met a goal. They kept our quarterback upright and they'll always say we want to get better, we want to get better. But I saw improvement from Week 1 to Week 2."