Clay Helton back on the sidelines in the Coliseum?

It could happen, depending on how his time as the head coach at Georgia Southern progresses.

USC announced Tuesday that it has scheduled future non-conference home games against Georgia Southern (Sept. 6, 2025) and Nevada (Sept 11, 2027).

It will be USC's first ever football game vs. Georgia Southern and will be the seventh time that USC has played Nevada. The Trojans are 5-0 all-time vs. the Wolf Pack and host Nevada this season on Sept. 2.

Helton, who went 6-7 in his first season at Georgia Southern last year, was 46-24 all-time at USC during a rollercoaster of a tenure with the Trojans that included a Rose Bowl win in 2016 and a Pac-12 championship in 2017 but also a 5-7 finish in 2018 and his dismissal two games into the 2021 season that would finish 4-8.

Helton was hired by Georgia Southern in November of 2021 on a five-year contract (at $800,000 a year) that runs through the 2026 season, but since the Eagles moved up to the FBS in 2014 no GSU coach has lasted more than three and a half seasons.