Tuesday practice report: Keeping Kedon Slovis, USC grounded after big win

The Trojans are surely watching plenty of film on upcoming opponent BYU this week, and of course they've broken down their own performance from that 45-20 win over Stanford last Saturday.

But USC coach Clay Helton also wanted to show his players something he felt was just as important.

"It's time for us now to show maturity. … We're not here to win one big game -- we're here to have a great season and it takes one week at a time," Helton said Tuesday after practice.

"I even showed last week's preparation, last week's practice today in the team meeting. I literally showed clips of 'This is how you won that game. You won it on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.' And they did a great job today."

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A lot more eyes are on USC (2-0) this week, as it moved back into the national rankings at No. 24 heading into its first road game of the fall at BYU (1-1) on Saturday night. The Trojans scored the final 35 points and kept Stanford scoreless over the final two and a half quarters of this latest win -- exerting a level of command over a game that was not seen at any point last season.

More specifically, the spotlight will be on true freshman quarterback Kedon Slovis, who created national buzz while completing 28 of 33 passes for 377 yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions in his first collegiate start.

Slovis was asked about that reality that he won't be able to surprise anyone this week and that BYU will be scheming for him in a way that Stanford wasn't able to before his first start.

"You can't really go out thinking about that. You just go out and play football," Slovis said is his typical concise and matter-of-fact manner.

But every different test Slovis faces this season is for the first time. The season opener was his introduction to college football. The Stanford game was his first start and first time having to rally a team back from an early deficit. This is his first road game and first time being a known entity to the opponent. With every new test comes a new gauge, something new to be learned about the freshman signal-caller.

But to be honest, Slovis has given no evidence that his heart rate ever rises or that any of those aforementioned factors mean anything different to him at all.

"I think he's handled it great. I've watched him do two press conferences now and he always talks about other folks. He talks about how well the offensive line did, how easy is it to make plays as a quarterback when you've got these wideouts around you. I've been thoroughly impressed with his maturity, not only in his preparation but his execution on game day and how he handles the limelight," Helton said.

"He's always been a very humble kid, and that's part of being a USC quarterback is the intangibles that come with that position. … You are the face of a program, and he's handled it very well."

It's hard to say that this storyline is going to lose any luster the more time passes. It's too rich, too compelling. Even though it feels almost unfair to mention at this point, it adds to the context to keep reiterating that Slovis was a largely overlooked 3-star prospect whom most would have expected six months ago to be buried down the depth chart.

Instead, he's the reigning Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week after his first start. Stories like his are what make college football special. But this one is still in the very early chapters and he will have to prove it again -- prove that those aforementioned new factors are indeed no big deal for the poised 18-year-old.

To that point, the coaching staff has been emphasizing its message all week that the Trojans have to go prove it again. That their story collectively -- what this season can be -- is also in the very early stages.

"The reason why I think we played as well as we did at times was because we practiced, we prepared the right way. You can't get complacent, you can't ever let that change," offensive coordinator Graham Harrell said. "The way you prepare all week is going to be the way you play on Saturday, so that's been the message all week."