Clay Helton said he'd never seen it in his 25 years as a college football coach, and offensive coordinator Graham Harrell, having been a part of some prodigious offenses with Air Raid guru Mike Leach, wasn't sure he had either.
It had definitely never happened in the long and storied history of USC football.
Four Trojans receivers each topped 100 yards through the air Saturday in the team's 52-35 win over rival UCLA in the Coliseum.
Freshman Drake London had 8 catches for 142 yards and a touchdown, Amon-Ra St. Brown reeled in 8 catches for 128 yards, Tyler Vaughns had 6 grabs for 106 yards and a TD and Michael Pittman tied a career-high with 13 catches while tallying 104 yards and 2 TDs.
"I don't know, I was kind of wondering that myself when they told me that we had four go over 100," Harrell said. "I don't know if I've ever seen that as a player or a coach. I'd be interested to know. To have that, that's awesome. Playing for coach Leach and coaching with coach Leach, obviously I've been a part of some big offensive performances, but I don't know that we've ever had four guys separately go over 100. So that was awesome."
Pittman, the Biletnikoff Award semifinalist, caught a pair of short touchdowns in the second quarter to help stake USC to a 24-14 halftime lead. London, who had a 46-yard reception early in the game to set up a score, caught a 32-yard touchdown pass from QB Kedon Slovis early in the third quarter. And Vaughns had a key 49-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter to thwart UCLA's momentum after back-to-back long Bruins scoring drives.
"I've never heard of it. I've never seen it. I don't think it's been done. You all can correct me if I'm wrong, but I've just never seen nothing like it," Vaughns said of the four 100-yard performances. "It just shows how strong our corps is."
"I think we're a special group of receivers, as you saw today," St. Brown said.
Added Pittman: "I don't know what other school does that."
The case has been made all season, really since the spring, that USC might have one of the best wide receiver groups in the country. Add their performance Saturday as the latest evidence.
Pittman, Vaughns and St. Brown were known commodities entering the fall, but London has really emerged over the second half of the season for the Trojans. He now has back-to-back 100-yard games and has scored in four straight contests as the Trojans' overly-qualified No. 4 WR. For the season, he has 35 catches for 533 yards and 4 TDs.
It was the fourth 100-yard game of the season for Vaughns, who was limited to just six snaps the previous week due to a sprained ankle. He has a career-high 68 catches for 858 yards and 6 TDs overall.
It was St. Brown's third 100-yard receiving game this fall, and he's now up to 68 catches for 879 yards and 6 TDs -- all career bests.
Meanwhile, Pittman is the pace-setter for the group. He's up to 95 catches for 1,222 yards and 11 touchdowns with five 100-yard games. The senior star is tied for fourth nationally with 7.9 catches per game and tied for 10th with 101.8 receiving yards per game while making his case for the prestigious Biletnikoff Award as one of a dozen remaining candidates.
"That would be huge to just get that and bring it back and share it with this great university," he said. "That would just be a testament to our wideout group because all of us are deserving of that and it would be a great thing to bring back."
Pittman was the last of the four to go over 100 on Saturday, doing so with a 7-yard catch on USC's final possession. He acknowledged the Trojans were aware of the history in range and wanted the feat -- a deserved exclamation point to a great season for the quartet.
"We actually did know that. I had like 3 yards to get, and then we just threw it real quick and then I came out of the game," he said. "It's kind of like a testament to what we have here at 'SC and just that legacy that our wideout group is putting on and carrying out because we've had so many guys that have come through here. It's just really great we [can] carry that on."
Harrell, meanwhile, noted the accomplishment reflects what this offense can be at its peak, challenging defenses all over the field and making it impossible to key on any one guy.
"It just goes to show again the depth of talent we have. Early on they were trying to take away big Pitt, and I don't blame them because Pitt's a special player, but there's too many weapons to take one guy away," he said. "So whenever you get away from Pitt, now he's free to go get his at that point. ...
"That's another thing that I think is a beauty of the offense. The ball is going to find where they're weak. That's the design behind it, at least. Like I said, because of some of the coverages they've played and stuff like that, we had some shots all over the field and we hit them. Really across the board, that's the cool thing about all those guys going over 100 -- we hit them outside, we hit them over the middle."
Over and over and over again.
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