The reactions were raw Saturday night among USC's players, who were trying to make sense of that 56-24 loss to Oregon the same as everyone else.
In particular, the Trojans were left to process the 56-7 Ducks run, the eight straight touchdowns given up, the four costly turnovers by QB Kedon Slovis and the USC offense, the bad penalties, the continued mounting injuries and the realization that their Pac-12 hopes essentially vanished sometime in the third quarter.
The sentiment of disbelief was consistent through the responses afterward.
Wide receiver Tyler Vaughns: "It was a shocker to us. I would have never guessed that."
Cornerback Olaijah Griffin: "The way we started off, I felt like we was going to blow them out. I mean, shoot."
Wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown: "It's not something I'm used to. I've never lost this bad in my life in a football game, so definitely a shock."
Meanwhile, left tackle Austin Jackson, who is often among the more thorough and insightful interviews on the team, needed just a couple words to sum it up.
"It's unfortunate," he said.
This was USC's most anticipated game of the second half of the schedule, and now the only anticipation within the fan base is for change and a new direction for the program.
Clay Helton's status and the subsequent dominoes will be the narrative around this team these next few weeks, and the players will have to deal with it while trying to push for a bowl berth and a better finish to an ultimately underwhelming season.
"That is not our decision. We came here to play for coach Helton, so obviously that is the guy we want to play for and he's doing a great job leading us," Jackson said.
Said outside linebacker Hunter Echols: "I'm not even worried about nothing as far as that. We all love coach Helton and we know what he can do, man. He did some great things here at USC -- he won a Rose Bowl, Pac-12 championship, took us to a Cotton Bowl, so I feel like we'll be all right. I support my coach 100 percent, all the coaches on this coaching staff."
Like Jackson said, it will not be their decision, though.
What is up to the players is how invested they will remain over the final three games on the schedule, or whether this will turn into a repeat of the 2018 collapse when the Trojans lost five of their final six games and incurred especially deflating/embarrassing defeats to Cal and UCLA down the stretch.
It's no doubt a tough challenge mentally after all the work and belief that went into the offseason and the emerging belief that these Trojans were indeed not the same team that had finished 5-7 last fall.
Now it's not so clear -- at least not from the outside.
"I just told them in the locker room, one of the things if nothing else comes from this is a great life lesson," Helton said. "I said, 'I know every one of us feel bad in here right now, but the world doesn't care about our feelings or us feeling sorry for ourselves. The world cares about you getting back up and doing your job.' For 18-21-year-olds, it's hard because they pour so much into it. The amount of time they spend to get to Saturday, it's hard when this happens, but that's life. Sometimes life isn't fair."
It's been a tough season for all involved, indeed. The misfortune began most immediately when starting QB JT Daniels sustained a season-ending knee injury halfway through the opening game.
True freshman backup Kedon Slovis would miss most of two games himself with a concussion, and third-string QB Matt Fink would play hero one week (vs. Utah) and then throw 3 interceptions the next in a loss at Washington.
The injuries have only mounted further with the Trojans' top three running backs all out indefinitely right now, their top two defensive ends missing multiple games, all three cornerbacks taking turns with injury absences, their top safety and nickel bouncing in and out of the lineup, a key starting linebacker missing multiple games, etc.
"We're on our fourth-string running back, second-string true freshman quarterback, numerous injuries on defense. And unfortunately with a young defense, when you lose your [experienced] guy who's a sophomore at safety, it's tough to rally back after that," Jackson said, the reality of the season seeming to set in for him. "We're not pointing any fingers at anybody. We know it's on us, and we need to come back next week and get better."
Redshirt senior defensive end Christian Rector, meanwhile, was asked about those what-ifs as well: "You can never really do that, play that what-if game. We're expected to win no matter what -- we're 'SC. We're a big-time program and we expect ourselves to come out victorious no matter the circumstances."
That is indeed how the fans see it and the injury setbacks won't give Helton a pass on the fact that his program -- this proud USC football program -- is now 10-11 since the start of last season.
Again, that's where the focus will remain for fans. Where it goes for the USC players the rest of this season is up to them, as road trips to Arizona State and Cal and a home finale with UCLA await.
"We still have a lot to play for and we've still got to keep fighting and finish out the season and get to a bowl game and what not," center Brett Neilon said. "We've just got to come together and keep fighting and play."
More postgame coverage:
-Column: Ducks deliver decisive defeat to USC, Clay Helton Era
-WATCH: Clay Helton discusses his future, USC players react to lopsided loss
-First-and-10: The key takeaways, criticism and critiques from USC's performance
-All of the key comments from USC coaches and players after the game
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