Clay Helton has been at his best as USC’s head coach in these moments. Put him in a hole — heck, maybe even one he helped dig himself — and he’ll muscle his way out of it. He didn’t want to be back here again, with two early-season losses sending the Trojans tailspinning out of the top 25, but he’s not going to wallow in the outside negativity pushing against the inner walls of his program.
“I don’t want the mistake of being upbeat to say that I don’t have a care, a concern and an effort level to make sure that our seniors are not Pac-12 champions again,” Helton said.