2016 ArchivesNCAAFBy Matt Yoder on

Two and a half months ago Clay Helton’s career as USC head football coach was hanging on by one loose thread. The Trojans were 1-3 after the first four games of his first full season as the permanent coach. Helton had been given the interim and then the permanent tag during the 2015 season after Steve Sarkisian’s exit from the program. In 2015, Helton led the Trojans to an appearance in the Pac 12 title game and an 8-6 record, but it’s safe to say the standard for success at USC is much higher than that. After all, this is a program with 11 National Championships and 6 Heisman Trophy winners.

Helton was far from a big name splashy hire. He was the in-house guy who got a promotion.  The conventional wisdom says that you never hire the interim guy full-time, but it has worked out before. Just ask Clemson and Dabo Swinney.

As things stood after USC lost 31-27 on the road at Utah to drop to 1-3, Helton sure didn’t look like the next Dabo. At that time, it looked like he wouldn’t even survive the 2016 season. The eulogies were already being written.

We saw it all. RIP Clay Helton’s USC career…

Clay Helton is not USC head coach material…

https://twitter.com/brandonleetv/status/779556243052429312

It was just a matter of time until USC had to look elsewhere…

And to top it all off, The Big Lead even said that Helton had to be fired and USC needed to hire a “real head coach” because USC must have originally hired Helton based on his expertise playing NCAA Football dynasty mode on XBox or something.

All of these proclamations make what has happened over the last eight games all the more amazing. Since all of these people declared Helton’s USC tenure dead in the water, he and the Trojans haven’t lost. The most impressive of those victories was a 26-13 triumph on the road at Pac 12 champion and College Football Playoff participant Washington. Quarterback Sam Darnold blossomed, throwing multiple touchdowns in all eight of those games.

USC is 8-0 since that 1-3 start and only one of five teams in college football to be undefeated since October.

Even with three losses, USC was getting deserved late-season buzz as one of the hottest teams in the country. If there was an 8 team playoff in college football, they would have a legitimate shout for a playoff berth and would be the decisive favorite to be given the mantle of “team you don’t want to play in the postseason.” Well, besides Alabama.

Helton may never win a national championship at USC, but he has certainly done enough over the last two months to earn that permanent tag and at least point the program in the right direction once again.

Helton has USC ranked 9th and appearing in their first Rose Bowl since 2008, Pete Carroll’s next to last season. Lane Kiffin never made a BCS or New Year’s Six bowl game in three-plus years in charge (although he did have a postseason ban to deal with). Sarkisian never did it either. Clay Helton has, though. Considering where Helton and USC were just a couple months ago, it has to be one of the biggest shocks of the college football season.

About Matt Yoder

View all posts by Matt Yoder