Clay Helton Embracing Notre Dame-USC Rivalry
Notre Dame versus USC is one of the more storied rivalries in all of college football, and it is without question the greatest intersectional rivalry in the game. Trojans head coach Clay Helton is not going to down play that to his team this week, rather he is going to embrace it.
“For us, it’s special. I kind of sell it,” Helton explained. “We talk about the trifecta of being able to play for the Shillelagh, play for the Victory Bell and play for Rose Bowls. It’s in our team meeting room to be able to put your year up there that you were associated with a victory over Notre Dame, UCLA, or you won the Rose Bowl or the national championship. To be part of that legacy is important to these guys. It’s one of the reasons you come to SC to be part of those storied games.
“The Shillelagh is out. I may sleep with it all week. I’m going to show it to the team, to those freshmen, so they understand the history of how important this game is to both universities and to both fan bases.”
With potential national title implications on the line, Helton wants to keep the focus on the rivalry and not the long-term impact the result may have.
“There’s so much in play,” he said. “I try to focus on the history, the tradition and legacy of the game. Obviously, it doesn’t affect the Pac-12 race, but in this time and this game, it has national implications. You’re talking about two one-loss teams that are very talented teams that have an opportunity to do some special things down the stretch.”
Last week, thanks to three first-half turnovers, USC found itself down 21-7 to Utah at home. Second-half drives of 98, 88 and 93 yards, and most importantly no turnovers, pushed the Trojans to an eventual 28-27 victory.
There was no game plan change for USC at halftime, mainly because the offense produced 262 total yards during the first 30 minutes but was derailed by three fumbles. The “elimination of the mistakes” was the key change for the Trojans to produce the comeback and keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive.
“Just being brutally honest with them at halftime and telling them, ‘Hey you’re playing a game that you should be equal or in the lead with right now, but because we’ve turned the ball over three times we’re behind,” Helton said. “There doesn’t need to be plays drawn up in the dirt. There doesn’t need to be a new plan. You have 262 yards of offense and only seven points because we’ve turned it over in the red zone. They took it to heart.
“They went out there and played an extremely clean half, our best half of football I thought in all phases. Four punts by the defense in a row they produced, offensively, having drives of 98, 88 and 93 to take the lead. It was our best half of football. We challenged them at halftime and credit to the players. They win games for us and they did their job.”
Though star redshirt sophomore quarterback Sam Darnold has been prone to interceptions this season, throwing nine, it’s been fumbles (four) that have caused him the most trouble in October. For Helton, Darnold’s play in the second half against Utah was crucial in their victory.
“I think you look at the month of October right now, especially in the passing game by Sam, it’s six touchdowns and only one interception — 312 yards and 358 yards [in the two games],” Helton said. “And the plays he made especially on third down, I thought were critical for our success — 7 of 14.”
Helton hopes to ride that momentum into South Bend on Saturday when the No. 11 Trojans square off against 5-1 and No. 13 Notre Dame.
In 2016, it was 10-7 USC late in the second half before the Trojans returned a punt for a touchdown and followed it up with a pick-six to take a 24-7 lead into half. The teams went back and forth in the second half with USC eventually winning 45-27.
While Notre Dame was in free fall at the time last year and USC was arguably the hottest team in the country, both programs are moving in the same direction in 2017. Helton has been impressed by Notre Dame’s shift in its offense to exhibit its strengths.
“I thought Coach [Brian] Kelly when we played them last year had some bad luck,” Helton explained. “Had a ton of injuries on that team coming in there. Coach Kelly is a terrific coach and when he has a healthy football team he knows how to win. One of the things I’ve been impressed with is how he changes based on personnel. You see a terrific quarterback in [DeShone] Kizer last year, they were throwing it around.
“This year still has that, but he also knows he has an unbelievable offensive line and a terrific running back [junior Josh Adams]. So, he’s really married up where they were kind of more pass game last year, he knows their strength is that running game and he’s leaning on it. [Quarterback Brandon Wimbush] is doing such a great job as far as being an accurate down-the-field thrower. They are running the ball and trying to throw it over your head and put a bunch of points on the board against opponents.”
Helton feels this year’s Notre Dame run offense resembles a common opponent for both the Irish and Trojans.
“You have to defend against the quarterback,” Helton said of the Irish run game. “There are times where they just line up and say okay here we go, we’re putting two tight [ends] in and we’re going to run downhill at you. They’re very well coached. Their offensive line is extremely well coached. They are controlling the line of scrimmage. We’ve got a big challenge.
“It reminds me a little bit of the Stanford game as far as the physicality it’s going to bring to the table. They are a well coached team and playing some good football right now.”
Saturday will be the first matchup since 2009 where both teams enter the game ranked in the Associated Press poll.
----
• Talk about it inside Rockne’s Roundtable
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.
• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @BGI_CoachD,
@BGI_DMcKinney and @BGI_CoreyBodden.
• Like us on Facebook.