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After the first two games of his first season as offensive coordinator of the USC, Graham Harrell is held in front of the reporters gathered in the Colosseum tunnel, ready to answer any questions.
On Saturday afternoon, as anger and doubt began to plague the program as a result of a 30-27 loss to Brigham Young, Harrell was totally absent from the post-game procedure.
Clay Helton was then to answer the dubious selection of USC, a subject on which many fans of USC are always sensitive when it comes to the head coach of the Trojans.
After the defeat in overtime, the rumor ran that Helton himself had taken over calling the team in overtime. On Sunday, Helton defended the performance of his offensive coordinator, while repeating that Harrell "makes all the calls".
"I thought Graham called a good game," said Helton. "You can always go after the game. But I thought Graham, for what everyone said was Air Raid, did a great job of staying disciplined when the defense dropped eight. "
While the Trojans recovered the ball in overtime, trailing behind a goal, the Vavae Malepeai running back lost a yard on the first try. At the next game, Malepeai again took the advantage, rushing for five yards.
The decision to run on these tests was seriously questioned after the match, considering the result of the next match: the pass of Kedon Slovis was switched and intercepted to end the match.
Helton has defended these decisions twice since.
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"Graham called the plays based on what he thought was in the game," he said Sunday. "We felt we were running the ball pretty well. We ended up getting the first descent, where we had a small hole and we missed it very little. We sit there, second and 10, second and 11, and I thought it was a good call from Graham: get the third one and be manageable. …
"It gave us a good opportunity to have a third and more manageable, rather than a possible and third, to keep us in an excellent range of goals. He called a third piece of spacing that we had, if you read correctly reading, there is an open man. "
But Slovis missed him, and for the first time since Harrell was hired, questions were raised about USC's offensive game plan.
Of course, that was not the only question that came out of Saturday's demoralizing loss. Helton pointed out that the "growth pains" associated with USC's youth were the main reason for the multitude of mistakes made. He noted on Sunday that four bad games of young players represented 150 offensive yards for BYU.
"It's something we're going to live, learn and evolve," said Helton.
But as the Trojans prepare to face a glove in the next four weeks, starting with Utah No. 10 on Friday and continuing with Washington No. 22 and Notre Dame No. 7 soon after, Trojans – and their head coach – might not have much time to find answers.
One of the best defenses in the country in a few days, said Helton, "there is not much time to complain. That's what everyone said in [the locker room]. "Hey, this is a match, we have to fix it and move on." We plan to do great things this season and it's early in the season. "
Etc.
Senior defender Christian Rector was "close to [Saturday’s] game, but just not close enough, "said Helton.With regard to Friday, Helton thinks Rector is" pretty close "to the return to Utah.Nickel cornerback Greg Johnson left Saturday's game and did not return, but Helton had no information about his status … … Utah's running back Zach Moss, tied for eighth place in the country, told reporters that the Utah would add to the "good little injury" suffered by the loss of USC in favor of BYU.
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