Earlier this week, as Max Browne stood in his final media scrum before USC’s game against Alabama on Saturday, a reporter asked about allegations of sexual assault made against a teammate.
Browne shook his head.
"Yeah, it's tough,” he said. “But at the end of the day, we've had some distractions in the past, and I'll leave that to Coach [Clay] Helton to address.”
Another reporter asked, rhetorically: just some distractions?
“Just a few,” Browne said sarcastically.
A new era of USC football, with Browne as the quarterback, begins Saturday with the Trojans facing the defending national champion.