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Brandon Dart was about to leave for an elk hunting trip Saturday afternoon.

His wife and mother had flown up to watch USC play at Washington State in case freshman quarterback Jaxson Dart got in the game or needed any support one way or another. Brandon would stay back in Utah to first watch his younger children's athletic events with plans to then hit the road right around the time the Trojans kicked off Saturday.

He figured he'd listen to the game or watch it on his phone when he could while traveling to meet friends for a horseback-led excursion through the roadless Book Cliffs in eastern Utah, just north of Moab.

He, of course, did not figure that his son would take over at QB midway through the first quarter in Pullman, Wash., and go on to set a USC record for most passing yards in a Trojans debut, while completing 30 of 46 passes for 391 yards, 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.

"Literally, I had just closed the cover on my truck, I was getting ready to jump in and drive and all of a sudden I can just feel my phone buzzing. I looked down and my buddies are like, 'It's go time!' I'm like, 'What?'" Brandon Dart says, recapping a wild day for the family over the phone Saturday night, hours after USC's 45-14 win. "I missed the first drive and all that stuff, so I'm like, I'm going to hurry and run in just to see what's going on. Then I see him go in and I'm like, 'Oh ... my ... goodness.'"

Inside Washington State's Martin Stadium, the QB's mother, Kara Dart, was having an even more intense reaction seeing it unfold live, as Trojans starter Kedon Slovis was knocked out of the game on the opening drive, thrusting Dart into his first collegiate action.

"My first instinct was, oh my gosh, I think I'm going to vomit. Like, OK, here we go," Kara says over the phone Saturday night. "And then my mind goes through all of the pieces. The fact that it's pouring rain, which is probably not ideal for your first game, just being a true freshman and all of it. My mind went to all of that, but then it also goes to the other side of things where I know how much he's prepared, I know how hard he works, I know that he's a fierce competitor, so for him in his brain he wanted to be in the game. It's hard for him to be on the sideline. That is just a hard thing for him.

"We've talked about it each game how to balance the grit and the drive without making yourself go crazy, so I knew in his brain he felt ready to be in the game. In that sense, you have some peace. ... So my mind's going through all of this."

As if this week couldn't have gotten any more intense for the Dart family -- or the Trojans in general.

It was just six days earlier that Brandon and Kara were having brunch with Jaxson after coming to Los Angeles to watch USC's 42-28 loss to Stanford. They knew there would be ramifications from that game, but they didn't think head coach Clay Helton would be fired a day later.

That Sunday, after talking about it over brunch, Dart had decided to text Helton and reiterate that he had the team's support and assure his coach they would get everything fixed.

The next day Helton was gone, leaving the future of the coaches who had recruited Dart to USC also very much at risk.

Five days after that, Dart was holding the sword and celebrating with the Trojans marching band after turning an unexpected opportunity into a breakout performance.

There isn't much else that could bring about a more dramatic pendulum of emotions in such a short window.

"It was a crazy week for him -- well, for the entire team," Kara Dart says, putting it lightly.

One at a time, Dart's parents delivered their unique perspective on how the quarterback's week and stirring Trojans' debut unfolded.

While Dart didn't play in that deflating loss to Stanford, he felt the pain all the same. But by that Sunday morning brunch, he was feeling optimistic again, as is his general disposition and nature.

"We were talking about the game, we were talking about the future and in Jaxson's mind, he's like, 'OK, momma, I think we're going to be OK.' He's laying it out, 'If we win this and this ... I think we're going to be OK, I think Helton will be OK,'" Kara recalls. "He's like, 'I feel like I should just say, hey coach, don't worry, we've got your back.' So he did send that on Sunday. And then Monday he said they go to meetings not thinking anything of it and then all the announcements, so I think Jaxson's heart just about stopped."

The highly-rated four-star quarterback from Kaysville, Utah, was just two games into his collegiate career. He had labored over his college decision back in December, ultimately choosing USC over UCLA because of his bond with offensive coordinator Graham Harrell and tight ends coach Seth Doege. He felt a special connection with this staff and knew he could trust them.

Suddenly, the future of those coaches and the offense he would be playing in were all in doubt -- before he'd ever even stepped on the field.

Like most everybody outside the players and staff, the Dart family learned the news via Twitter. Brandon was away on a business trip checking into his hotel when his phone started buzzing.

"We didn't get to talk to Jaxson until later that night, but I spoke with the administration, coaches, after the news broke, just reached out and made calls [to] at least give us a heads up of why and what their plans were and what they want to do for the future. And for Jax, it was just tough -- he's a kid that relationships are the most important for him," Brandon says. "[Those are] people that he wants to play for because of the relationships he's developed with them. So I know for him it was just kind of tough and surprising it happened so soon.

"Not surprising that it happened because we knew that was a possibility, but I think just so early. He is a loyal kid and he loves his coaches. He actually texted Coach Helton Sunday night to let him know, Hey coach, we're going to get this thing together and I'm going to do everything in my power to help this team win and I'll always have your back. We're going to save the season and things are going to be OK. And then it was the next day."

As the news reached Kara Dart, via a call from her husband, her first instinct was to call Abigail Doege, the wife of USC's tight ends coach.

"She's probably the wife I feel the closest [with] where I could have an actual phone conversation and she would be really honest with me, but at the time I called her she had just barely found out herself. So it's not like she had extra specifics," Kara recalls. "But I immediately [felt] that things now seem more uncertain. We're smart enough to know how this works and that coaching staffs when that happens, at some point coaching staffs get blown up. For Jaxson, I think he did not expect it all.

"He knows. He knew that Coach Helton was under [scrutiny]. Everybody, you can't miss that, right? If you're at all involved with USC football, you can't miss that."

Brandon added that he left the Coliseum feeling "something drastic was going to happen," but not in the sense that a coaching change was coming less than two days later.

As the family talked over brunch Sunday morning, he discussed with Jaxson to expect more distractions than usual but that maintaining his focus was as important as ever.

"And then I texted him on Monday before I left [on business], 'Just understand that you're as close as ever right now to being in a game and keep your focus, keep your tunnel vision, prepare like never before because I just feel like there's going to be an opportunity this week and you just want to be able to take advantage of whatever situation you're put in and not be surprised by it. Because it's not going to be something that's really planned,'" he shares.

Once Brandon Dart got that text from his friends early Saturday, he put his travel plans on hold and went upstairs to his bedroom and turned on the television.

His daughters were down on the main floor and his son was in the basement, and he hadn't spoken to them about it yet.

"We were all on three different levels and I didn't even say anything, but all of a sudden I could hear my daughter screaming 'Jaxson's in the game, Jaxson's in the game!' Then I hear [my son] running up. I just had a little bit of adrenaline, a little bit of anxiety rolling through and just kind of hunkered in for the game," Brandon says.

He has a rule when watching games with such significant investment -- wherever he starts watching is where he stays. So he'd go downstairs between breaks in the action and talk with his other children (who are 16, 13 and 9 years old), but he continued to watch the game up in his bedroom.

"The whole time, my phone's blowing up and everyone's just ... I literally had to just put it away and not even worry about it," he says.

Kara took the same approach in the stands at Washington State, with the exception of reaching out to Brandon and making sure he knew what was happening.

By that point, Dart had already thrown his first touchdown -- the pivotal 38-yard strike on fourth-and-9 to Gary Bryant Jr. with 32 seconds left in the first half for USC's first points. He had also taken a helmet to the knee late in that second quarter and was noticeably hobbled.

"She thought I'd left, so she texted me right after Jaxson's touchdown to Gary [Bryant], like, 'Hey, do you have service?' I'm like, 'Yeah, I've got service, how you doing?' She was just like, 'I'm about to have a moment here,'" he recalls. "Then we called and I was able to ask her, 'Were you able to see him going into halftime, how's he moving? Did he look at you and give you a thumbs up?' She said he just kind of looked at her and gave her a little bit of a smile, so she's like, 'Well, I don't think he's coming out of the game.'"

Knowing his son better than anyone, Brandon knew the knee injury must have been really painful if Jaxson was showing any signs of it. (He'd come out for the second half with a brace on it.)

Brandon could also just feel what must have been going through the QB's mind earlier in the game after the interception on his first series -- an ill-advised throw into traffic that Washington State's Daniel Isom made an easy play on in front of target Drake London.

"I know he [was] irritated," Brandon says. "Jaxson had four picks and one fumble [last season at Corner Canyon HS in Utah], so five turnovers the entire season, and one of those picks was off a facemask where they drug his face to the ground and he just threw it because he thought it was a free play. But that's just not usually, even when he was a freshman in high school, he's just not a turnover-prone kid. Colleges are going to expose some of the stuff and you got a little bit of the weather, slippery ball, whatever. I just know at that point in time he's just, some kids might get down, but he gets like competitively pissed. Like can't wait to get back in."

Indeed, after the early interception and fumble, it was mostly a highlight reel of impressive plays from the freshman.

A 32-yard precision pass up to the seam to London with a defender on the receiver's back. A confident 5-yard touchdown strike to London in the end zone between two defenders. A perfect back shoulder pass to London for another 32-yard connection in the third quarter. Yet another right where it needed to be down the seam for London for a 31-yard touchdown just in front of one DB and before another converged. And a final 36-yard touchdown to Kyle Ford with great touch.

"I was just glad he was able to settle in the pocket a little bit and once he was in the groove and hit some good balls you could just see his confidence," Brandon continues. "When he has that look, once he starts to get fiery a little bit, I know sometimes people want your quarterback just to stay flatlined -- which when things aren't going his way he'll stay flatlined -- but when he's feeling good, like he's a fiery competitor and he wants to be able to make plays for you."

Back in the stadium, Kara watched as Dart had that moment with the band after the game, holding the sword -- a symbolic moment like no other that he had arrived as a Trojan.

"I could see the team kind of having his back. There was an energy that was really cool. As I was watching it, I know that he would want a few throws back or a couple little things I know he'd want those back and that's going to drive him crazy, but you felt an energy that I was so happy I was there to feel it," Kara says. "And I know that Brandon was dying not to be there. You could feel it. There was something about it and it was on both sides (offense and defense). ... It was really, really special for me to be there."

Jaxson had told his parents earlier in the week that the coaches had put a package in for him and he was expecting to play, but he didn't know what it would amount to.

Interim head coach Donte Williams said Sunday night that they had plans to use him on third-and-1, third-and-2 and in the red zone as a spark for the offense.

Of course, no one went in expecting this.

"I don't think anybody really hoped that it would happen this early because you knew something wasn't right with the season [in that case]," Brandon says. "I think through spring and through some of the summer stuff, I think Jaxson was getting comfortable enough that he knew he was comfortable that he could play at this level. But I think everybody hoped that Kedon could kind of come out guns-a-blazin' and the offense made some headway with the changes that they've made."

Those guns were sure blazin' Saturday in Pullman, and now Williams has said he wants to see his quarterbacks "battle" in practice and that a decision on who starts might not come until the end of the week.

As for the immediate reaction Saturday night, though, it wasn't time yet to think that far ahead.

"I talked to him just for a minute. He led the fight song, which was so cool and gave me a big hug. I got a little emotional and I think he was on cloud nine," Kara recalls, speaking a couple hours later. "... We talked a little bit as they were headed to the airport, but we'll have a more in-depth conversation as soon as he lands. He said 'I love you, momma.'"

Dart told his mother that his knee was "sore, but I'm fine." Kara asked if they could talk more, but there was too much going on, on the bus.

"He was just living it up with his teammates and that needs to happen too, so I totally get it," she says.

Brandon was also only able to get a couple quick texts from his son after the game as the Trojans headed for their flight home -- and as this truly wild and unexpected week and all it entailed drew to a close.

"Love you, pops. Had the time of my life," Dart texted his dad.