The Odyssey was happy for nice guy Clay Helton. After USC’s triumph over crosstown UCLA, Helton was given another year to coach the Trojans in spite of continual chatter this fall that he would get the ax.
Some happiness is quite transitory. Friday night, USC was routed in the Holiday Bowl, 49-24, by Iowa. Many Helton Haters resurfaced. Predictably, USC sacked its linebacker coach, DC and special teams coach yesterday. And why not? USC’s linebacker play was particularly horrendous in San Diego. The usually button-down Hawkeyes came up with a brilliant, innovative game plan that exploited one of the worst set of USC backers in memory. Any Iowa play that featured misdirection or made a beeline toward the wide side of the field was a guaranteed winner. Does Troy Polamalu have any eligibility left?
The USC D was so leaky that Iowa scored TDs on its first 5 possessions. The Odyssey wondered: Which was more decrepit: The Trojan D or the Stadium formerly known as Jack Murphy and Qualcomm? (One of the stadium’s laughable elements: The scoreboard is exactly the same as when the writer first moved to San Diego in 1983 — right down to the formats and fonts) The miserable Trojan D was so bad that USC wisely elected to onside kick after a Kedon Slovis bomb narrowed the Iowa advantage to 28-24. Courage was rewarded as USC’s kicker recovered the brilliantly executed surprise.
However, Trojan ecstasy was very short lived. Iowa pass-rushing terror, A.J. Epenesa, messed with the elbow of the brilliant Freshman Slovis on the next series. The phenom was out for the game. USC might as well have have headed north on I-5 immediately after his departure.
Slovis made mincemeat of Iowa’s elite defense before his injury. The Freshman broke the Pac-12 record for accuracy (minimum 300 attempts) with a 71.9% completion rate, breaking Andrew Luck’s record. With Slovis and perhaps as many as 17 other starters returning, 2020 prospects will be rosy if Helton can produce any semblance of a defense and can get some helpful freshmen on the squad. The last possibility is cloudy as USC’s recruiting rankings to-date have been the worst in the Pac-12 and ranked on a par with Bowling Green.
If Helton cannot shore up the D, Trojan faithful will rue the reported near miss in the Urban Meyer sweepstakes. Another uncertainty exists in regard to J. T. Daniels, the 5-star Sophomore who was the opening day starter before getting injured. With the emergence of Slovis, is Daniels the 21st Century version of Wally Pipp?
With so many nagging questions, one pleasant possibility exists. Barring further injury, the Odyssey believes that Slovis has a chance to go down as perhaps the all-time Pac-12 QB.