Ducks’ run continues; OR throttles Trojans by 20

Cal is tied for fifth nationally with 24 turnovers gained, but has just six in the past five games…. 7 Stanford 38-36. The Ducks still have work to do, they need to win their final three games and need to have Stanford lose this week for them to claim the north crown. Fans were questioning offensive coordinator Scott Frost’s scruples and calling for defensive coordinator Don Pellum’s head. “I like our attitude, but now we have to handle success”, Helfrich said after Saturday’s win over USC. “The same people who were telling us how cruddy we were are the same people who are going to tell us how great we are”.

The Ducks are averaging 43.4 points per game in that spell, and Adams has thrown 18 touchdowns.

The Ducks will host struggling Oregon State (2-9, 0-8) in the annual Civil War rivalry game on Friday.

Helton added, “He’s a tremendous football player and we knew that we’d have to get him on the ground and we just didn’t do that enough”. USC had been rolling over opponents, before OR got the best of them. Without Adams, the Ducks are mediocre.

The Trojans defense is led by two exceptional linebackers in Su’a Cravens and Cameron Smith. But in the early going, it was quite obvious that OR saw the Trojan secondary as the weakness, and Adams was going to exploit it as much as he could. A healthy Adams (i.e., zero broken fingers Adams) probably does not overthrow a wide-open Byron Marshall in the end zone with 1:30 left in the 4th quarter.

Growing up in Pasadena, Calif., OR quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. imagined playing football for USC OR UCLA. In the first half alone, Adams threw for 313 yards and four touchdowns.

The loss dropped USC to 4-2 under interim coach Clay Helton, who took over at Southern California after the dismissal of Steve Sarkisian. And with him back, they’re once again a team nobody wants to face.

A month ago, USC fired their head coach and the rest of the season looked like a dumpster fire but now, the Trojans have a golden opportunity to play in the rose bowl game this season. He kept the Trojans off balance from start to finish, mixing in the running of Royce Freeman with the precision passing of Vernon Adams.

The victor between these beaten, bloodied and flawed teams with seven losses between them will be the South Division champ. The next week, USC routed UCLA, 50-0.

The linebacker corps is USC’s deepest position group, and the Trojans are hoping that pays dividends against the Ducks.

So many things happened at USC the past four seasons: Four coaches, the end of NCAA sanctions, two bowl victories and even the Coliseum crowd rushing the field after a victory over No. 5-ranked Stanford in 2013.

In other words, one title game participant could be set this week, but the other will have to wait until next week.

-DT Delvon Simmons is coming off a big game, with two tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a blocked kick.

That was the same scenario in 2011, when the Trojans came to Autzen Stadium and beat the Ducks, 38-35, to end Oregon’s 21-game home winning streak.

The total for Saturday’s game is 71.5 points.

Saturday night, they served notice to anyone that overlooked them or just flat-out forgot about them. We came to OR and we got it done. “We always respond the right way”, Helfrich said. The senior transfer also shares the OR record for most touchdowns thrown in a game. OR is 7-1 SU when leading after three quarters.

Against USC, Adams completed 20 of 25 passes for 407 yards and six touchdowns.