USC offensive coordinator Graham Harrell smiled and chuckled a bit at the question. The latest Trojans conspiracy theory of the week was that surely head coach Clay Helton had interjected himself in the play-calling in the second half of that 30-27 overtime loss at BYU on Saturday.

"Yeah, I called them all," Harrell said.

Furthermore, he emphasized that Helton has given him full autonomy to run his offense as he sees fit since he was hired -- especially on game days.

"He made it clear that he would let me just call it. I think if you ever want any kind of rhythm and stuff, he's got to let you do that. So that was clear," Harrell said Monday after practice. "And during the week he sits in, he watches, he helps with the game plan and stuff like that. You know, he's a great asset to have. He's obviously coached offensive football for a long time, but when it comes to gameday he just lets us do our thing and lets us try to go execute and play fast.

"Like I said, he's been great about always saying, 'For a play-caller I know you've got to get in a rhythm, so between series we can talk or whatever if you've got questions, but when we're rolling just go do it.'"

Helton said much of the same when asked about it Sunday night, noting "Graham's making all the calls." Maybe Harrell's affirmation will quell the conspiracy theory du jour, maybe not.

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Either way, the impetus for fans' frustration and speculation stemmed in part from the fact that the Trojans definitely weren't rolling coming out of halftime Saturday while committing heavily to the run. They had a three-and-out on their first series of the third quarter, undone quickly by two unsuccessful runs, and then a four-plays-and-punt on four straight runs the next series. They'd end up running only 10 plays in the third quarter, including just one pass attempt.

As Helton said after the game Saturday, USC emphasized the ground game after seeing BYU commit to dropping eight defenders in coverage -- and after freshman quarterback Kedon Slovis threw two early interceptions.

"I've been thoroughly impressed with [Harrell]. Everything I thought would happen as far as taking what the defense gives you [has happened] -- the defense drops 8, he hands it off over 40 times," Helton said. "And that's probably the biggest challenge when you're supposedly an Air Raid guy is being able to have the discipline to hand it off over and over again when they're giving it to you."

Helton added that he saw early on in their time together Harrell's ability to adjust on the fly.

"He has tremendous confidence and knows his system inside and out and knows what to get to in a hurry," Helton said. "Even you could see it spring, when [defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast] would make a change he would make a change instantly."

The problem is the running game was hit and miss Saturday night -- not consistent enough to truly carry the offense when it needed to in a close game. Helton has touted that USC rushed for 171 yards, but consider that BYU came into the day giving up an average of 252 yards per game on the ground (third-worst in the FBS).

Harrell praised the Cougars' defensive front and the consistent play of the three down linemen to allow the unit to be able to drop so many into coverage.