Trojans’ Clay Helton fires D-coordinator Justin Wilcox, 3 others

Both Alabama and Clemson won knocking them out of playoff contention.

“I’m fine with where it is”, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. But while only Stanford and USC will compete for a Pac-12 crown in Santa Clara on Saturday, the game’s result will have just as much impact on WSU’s postseason destination as that of the participants.

It’s a bit more hard to pinpoint which bowl game would invite the Cougars should USC win on Saturday.

I see both of these teams giving up plenty of points tonight.

“What I take away from it is as a bunch of players coming together as a team, coming together as a family”, said Helton.

“That’s a guy I had posters on my wall of growing up”, McCaffrey said. He might’ve even won himself the Heisman.

The Trojans just couldn’t overcome Christian McCaffrey and Stanford to end this turnaround season in the Rose Bowl.

USC defensive backs challenged receivers on several 50-50 balls in the first meeting – and lost almost every time.

Kevin Hogan caught the TD pass from McCaffrey, threw one and ran for a third and Solomon Thomas scored on a 34-yard fumble return for the Cardinal (11-2, No. 7 CFP).

The MVP of the night, continued to amaze the fans with his performance today. He needs 216 all-purpose yards to break Barry Sanders’ single-season record…

McCaffrey added 105 yards receiving and 149 return yards to give him a Stanford record 461 all-purpose yards for the game and 3,496 for the season. The Cardinal running back will finish this season (minus a bowl game) with 1,000 more yards than any other player in the FBS. “It’s an extremely exciting feat for me, I couldn’t do it without my teammates”.

“And going forward, I think that’s the best chance we have to win against Stanford: Keep up that way of playing physical because they’re going to bring it”. That duo has been outstanding all year long for the Cardinal, which could still sneak into this year’s playoff if enough insane things happen in Championship Week. “If we beat team, I don’t”.

“USC came out of the half more aggressive and scored their first touchdown to make it an exciting game”.

The Trojans received the opening possession of the second half and capitalized, driving 65 yards in seven plays for a one-yard touchdown connection between Kessler and Jaheel Pinner to slice the deficit to 13-9. Wood missed the extra point. And his 67-yard reception in the third quarter was the pivotal play of the game. Kessler moved his offense down the field quickly with back-to-back first downs. Stanford is 22nd in the country in offensive yards per play (6.48), and USC is 20 (6.55).

Junior Justin Davis has taken on the leading role in the last three games, but Jones should still get plenty of opportunities.

Connor Cook led the Spartans (12-1) on a 22-play drive that set up Scott’s 1-yard run.

Without McCaffrey Stanford is not in the top 10 and perhaps not in the top 25.

Like Harris, No. 7 Stanford took a punch from No. 20 USC Saturday night at Levi’s Stadium when the Trojans (8-5) scored 16 straight points to take the lead in the third quarter.

“To my left here is the best player in the nation”, coach David Shaw said. “You know JuJu, we know he’s not one hundred percent”.