Even in victory, this USC football team leaves plenty to critique and criticize.

Especially when it only scores 3 points over the final three quarters and nearly squanders a three-touchdown lead, as was the case in the Trojans' 31-26 win at Arizona State on Saturday.

As we do every week, here are the 10 most glaring thoughts and takeaways from the Trojans' latest performance.

Whatever small chance existed for Clay Helton to keep his job likely slipped away Saturday night. This latest performance was emblematic of the issues that have plagued the Helton Era Trojans -- penalties galore, a failure to adjust to opponents mid-game and an apparent lack of any killer instinct as they nearly squandered a three-score lead against ASU. New athletic director Mike Bohn was clear in his assertion Thursday that he wanted to see the team finish the season strong. Helton needed to dominate this game; instead he saw the exact kind of mess we’ve become so familiar with over the years. Not the best look for a coach on the hottest hot seat in the FBS for his first game with a new AD. Helton’s chances of staying on were slim or none before this game, and despite the win, it feels like slim just walked out the door. It’s just a matter of when the hammer falls.

The Trojans have averaged over 70 yards of penalties per game. They inflated that number even further with their 93 penalty yards Saturday, coming on 11 flags. The Trojans committed on perplexing penalty after another -- almost all of them avoidable and many of them proving costly. More than once, penalties killed critical drives for the Trojans, including the one that could have iced the game away at the end of the fourth quarter. Every phase of the operation was suspect, nicely highlighting the fact that the Trojans lack of discipline is a teamwide problem. There’s no point harping on it more than I already have, but that’s been one of the defining traits of the Helton era of Trojan football. Whoever the next head coach is, you have to imagine fixing that will be near the top of their list of priorities.

USC got off to a blistering start on both sides of the ball. Kedon Slovis tore off a historic first quarter performance, throwing for 297 yards and 4 touchdowns, and the Trojans stifled freshman QB Joey Yellen and the ASU offense to build a 28-7 lead in the opening frame. It should have been easy sailing from there -- even a quarter more of controlled football should’ve put the Trojans in position to salt away the game comfortably in the second half. Alas, we know too well that that’s not how things work around here. The second quarter brought the onset of a massive slump for the Trojans, with the offense unable to get moving and the defense stumbling to regroup as Yellen found his footing. Penalties and special teams mistakes only made matters worse, and for the remainder of the game ASU remained on the cusp of a comeback. After their initial 28-7 run, the Trojans were outscored 19-3 the remainder of the game while looking like a different team over those last three quarters. Just like the Oregon game last week, the Trojans let up after a hot start, allowing their opponent back into a game they should have held control of throughout. Lucky for them, Arizona State isn’t quite as good as Oregon; otherwise these turbulent Trojans might have been looking at a .500 record again.

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Slovis played perhaps the best single quarter at the quarterback position that I’ve ever seen. The freshman was absolutely unstoppable on his way to 4 touchdowns and 297 passing yards in only the first 15 minutes of play. It was near historic as ESPN initially reported it was the most passing yards by a QB in any quarter in college football in at least 15 years before later correcting and noting it to be second on that list. Still ... It was the perfect showcase for Slovis’ talents; every tool in his collection was on display, from his intermediate touch to his gorgeous deep ball. His 95-yard touchdown to Amon-Ra St. Brown was one of the best throws I’ve seen all year -- a dime launched 35 yards in the air from inside his own end zone before dropping right into the hands of the receiver in stride over three Sun Devil defenders. The rest of the game, however, was a mixed bag. Slovis was still solid, but the freshman mistakes we’ve seen from him in the past re-emerged. He threw a mind-numbing pick on a bomb into double coverage in the second quarter, as well as an inexcusable near pick-6 that would have given ASU their first lead of the game in the middle of the 4th quarter had he not been bailed out by a defensive hold away from the throw. Slovis can become a dominant quarterback -- he already is for long stretches at a time. He just needs to start stringing those stretches together.