Published Nov 14, 2020
COLUMN: Helton points to stats, fans trust eyes in latest USC high-wire act
Ryan Young  •  TrojanSports
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TUCSON, Ariz. -- The outcome was the same, the final minutes just as tense and all the miscues and missed opportunities that led up to it all too familiar.

And in the big picture, that's not a good thing for this USC football team.

As coach Clay Helton would emphasize afterward, the No. 20-ranked Trojans did win, yes. After falling behind with 1 minute, 35 seconds remaining, they answered with a quick 75-yard scoring drive and a Vavae Malepeai 8-yard touchdown run with 25 seconds left that ultimately secured a 34-30 win at Arizona.

But that's not how this game was supposed to go. Not if USC expects to compete for a Pac-12 championship or even think about anything beyond that.

Arizona was picked to finish last in the Pac-12 South. The Wildcats won just 3 games against FBS opponents last year, ranked at the bottom of the conference in points and yards allowed and didn't get a tune-up game last week due to a COVID-related cancellation at Utah.

The Trojans were two-touchdown favorites, per the oddsmakers. They were able to use the rust excuse a week ago when they overcame a 13-point deficit in the final few minutes to stun Arizona State, 28-27, and they talked about cleaning up the mistakes, learning from them, being better.

For the fan base, this then became the gauge: take care of business against Arizona -- a team USC beat 41-14 a year ago -- and all of that would make sense.

That's not what happened Saturday.

RELATED: Watch the postgame press conference and see our full breakdown of all the comments from Clay Helton and USC players

The Trojans did again show poise and perseverance -- give them that -- but winning nail-biters against underdogs (more so this week than last) is not the recipe for realizing the expectations this team carried into the season.

There were just too many figurative red flags Saturday -- including way too many literal yellow flags.

The Trojans racked up 11 penalties for 110 yards, showing a lack of discipline on both sides of the ball, and certainly a lack of the "situational mastery" Helton preaches. Two of those penalties came back-to-back on a third-and-goal play from the 1 that was instead moved back to the 11 due to a false start and delay of game, ultimately leading to a missed 28-yard field goal.

While USC reeled off several big (and pivotal) runs, the offensive line noticeably struggled throughout the day, especially in short-yardage as USC was 5-of-13 on first downs and got stuffed again on a fourth-and-1 deep in the red zone.

And the defense, albeit fighting through injuries with linebacker Palaie Gaoteote, safety Talanoa Hufanga and outside linebacker Drake Jackson all missing stretches of the game on top of other missing personnel, didn't fix it flaws from a week ago. Getting beat on the ground by mobile Arizona State QB Jayden Daniels last week was one thing -- having traditional pocket passer Grant Gunnell rush for 40 yards (66 not counting lost sack yardage) and some key third-down conversions was ... less explainable considering he had a net of just 14 rushing yards all of last season.

Helton was asked, given all those points, many familiar to the previous week, what concern he takes from this game.

That's not how he saw it ...

"You know, we're 2-0, 1-0 on the week. We're going to go back home and continue to improve each and every week and find a way to get 1-0 next week against a good Utah team," he said. "And you know, the biggest thing, I know our kids really deal with reality well. They deal with the truth well. And there's some things that I know they know, and I told them in the locker room -- there's some things that we need to get better at, but celebrate all wins. Conference games on the road that you come out with, celebrate. And we're 1-0 on the week, 2-0 on the season. A lot of teams would like to be there."

He was asked a follow-up about the offensive line, and pointed to the 0 sacks the Trojans yielded. The other raw stats aren't bad either -- 5.4 yards per carry, 173 total rushing yards -- but the eye test told a different story, as 105 of those yards came on three plays, meaning the Trojans averaged just 2.6 YPC on their other 27 RB carries. Meanwhile, quarterback Kedon Slovis got rid of the ball on quick, short passes for much of the game, and when he didn't he often felt the Wildcats pressure.

That's not what caught Helton's eye ...

"I don't think we gave up a sack and we rushed for our mark of 175. So are there a couple things that we could do better? Yes, we had a I think a missed assignment on the one fourth-and-short that I would like to have back. But you give up zero sacks on the day and you hit our mark of 175, they met a goal," Helton said. "... I saw improvement from Week 1 to Week 2."

Again he was pressed -- about claiming rust a week ago and what he told his players after this game, especially about the 11 penalties and general sloppiness.

He found another stat to focus on ...

"I thought we went from four turnovers to zero -- that's a positive. I think that's an improvement," Helton said. "The penalties obviously stick out and we have to improve there. We'll get to be able to coach it off tape, but that was one of those games to be honest with you, if we turn it over one time we may lose that game. So to go from four turnovers last week to zero, I thought the kids took it to heart, I thought there was great ball security, especially in some tough running situations. I thought Kedon protected the ball well. I don't remember a throw that really was forced in the game, so there's positives that came out of it.

"Now, was it perfectly clean? Heck no, it wasn't, and we understand that. The penalties are one of the areas that we'll look on tape and try to improve for next week."

Heck no, it sure wasn't.

One of the fan base's consistent gripes with Helton is that he will never acknowledge concern or struggles. Everything is skewed positive at all times. It's the tone he wants to set in his locker room and that's his prerogative.

While the fans anguished through this game on message boards and social media, losing hope for the potential of this shortened 2020 season, reiterating their lack of faith in the direction of the program under his leadership, Helton was never going to give them what they wanted postgame -- a concession that he too was discouraged by the proceedings. It's simply not his style.

But words are words, and play is play.

So far the performance on the field hasn't matched the talk from the preseason.

"At the end our kids did what they did last week, when it mattered the most. I didn't see any panic. They showed great poise," Helton said.

They did -- and they needed to.

Let's set the stage first ...

USC led 17-13 at halftime thanks to an early Talanoa Hufanga interception that set the Trojans up at the Arizona 17 and led to 1-yard Markese Stepp touchdown run, and then later a 19-yard Stephen Carr draw up the middle followed by a 3-yard Carr touchdown.

In between, Malepeai got stuffed on third-and-1 from the Arizona 10 in the first quarter as USC settled for a Parker Lewis 30-yard field goal.

Arizona wasn't exactly capitalizing on its end either in the first half, though, missing one field goal and settling for two others after reaching the USC 6 and 10, respectively. That added to an early 34-yard catch-and-run touchdown from Gunnell to Jamarye Joiner. Despite trailing, the Wildcats had outgained USC, 231-145, in the first half.

The second half is really when the concern started to mount for the Trojans -- again.

USC couldn't capitalize on a 48-yard post completion from Slovis to Amon-Ra St. Brown down to the Arizona 10, settling for a 28-yard Lewis field goal, and Gunnell followed on the next play from scrimmage with a 75-yard touchdown to Tayvian Cunningham, burning the Trojans secondary down the seam to tie the game at 20-20. (Greg Johnson was left chasing Cunningham hopelessly, but he may have expected safety help over the top on that play).

That wasn't the worst of it, though. Perhaps one sequence best summarized the frustrations of Saturday.

On the following drive, USC got a 49-yard run by Stepp down the sideline, and Stepp later converted a fourth-and-1 to set up first-and-goal from the 8. But on third down at the 1, the Trojans were whistled for a false start. Then again for delay of game. Suddenly it was fourth down, and Lewis would miss a 28-yard field goal to punctuate the squandered opportunity.

The defense forced a three-and-out and Carr found a rare gaping running lane for a 37-yard scamper before losing his own footing. Just like that, it was first-and-10 at the Arizona 13 -- another prime opportunity. ... before another abject frustration.

The Trojans actually almost overcame the 15-yard offensive pass interference penalty that followed as Slovis connected with Drake London for a 21-yard gain, but Stepp was swallowed up on the subsequent fourth-and-1 from the Arizona 4 -- given no chance by his blockers to do anything with the handoff. Again, no points.

Those missed opportunities seemed ominous, but again, the Trojans found a late escape for the second week in a row.

Arizona would take a 23-20 lead on a 51-yard Lucas Havrisik field goal, USC would pull back ahead 27-23 on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Slovis to tight end Erik Krommenhoek and the Wildcats answered back in under 2 minutes while getting a 6-yard touchdown pass from Gunnell to Stanley Berryhill III to give the hosts a 30-27 lead with 1:35 to play.

The Trojans defense was depleted by that point -- Gaoteote had left with an unspecified head injury, Hufanga was playing through a deep quad bruise and the unit was already without key defensive linemen Brandon Pili and Caleb Tremblay, who were not available Saturday.

On the USC sideline, meanwhile, Malepeai and Carr repeated a conversation they had last week under similar adversity.

"Last week when we were down two touchdowns with three minutes left, we were talking to each other, saying, 'Someway, somehow, we’re going to get it done.' That same conversation happened today, before we headed into that last drive," Malepeai shared. "Someway, somehow. It says in the Bible, you speak life. I felt like that was spoken into existence. It wasn’t just words we were saying or a conversation we were having. It’s something we meant from the heart, and the whole team was behind it."

Again, give credit where credit is due.

Slovis didn't look at peak form again for much of the day, but he sure did on that final drive.

With 1:35 on the clock and the ball at the USC 25, he found St. Brown open in a pocket downfield for 20 yards, hit London over the middle for 9 and then three more consecutive completions to St. Brown for 5, 14 and 19 yards (the last of those glancing off a defender's fingertips and right into St. Brown's grasp).

"Kedon is always focused. There’s not a time when we doubted him. He’s in the game for a reason. That’s because he gets the job done," Malepeai said. "... His confidence is never wavering. ... People can say what they’re going to say, but at the end of the day, he got the job done."

That he did -- they did, rather. Malepeai's 8-yard touchdown run followed, and with just 25 seconds left Arizona wasn't able to get across midfield, with a Drake Jackson sack helping to stunt any final response from the hosts.

In the end, USC finished with 498 offensive yards, while Slovis completed 30 of 43 passes for 325 yards, 1 TD and 0 INTs. Stepp rushed for 82 yards and a TD on 12 carries and Carr rushed for 81 yards and a score on 11 attempts. St. Brown had 7 catches for 113 yards. And the Trojans racked up 5 sacks (2 by Jackson) and the Hufanga interception.

All told, that's how USC put itself in peril and found its way out in the final minutes yet again.

That's why Helton can point to the end result, the poise of his team and the Trojans' 2-0 record, while fans and critics can't forget everything else they saw Saturday.

Eventually, something will have to give. Either the Trojans will indeed improve on their flaws and play to their perceived potential, or the mistakes will become too many to mask.

For another week, this team gets to keep believing in the former while its fan base increasingly fears the latter.

"It’s a blessing for sure," Malepeai said. "Coach Helton says it all the time, we celebrate all wins. Today was a win -- 24-hour rule, enjoy it tonight, and then get prepared for Utah."