Clay Helton Named As Permanent Head Coach At USC

McCaffrey broke the Stanford record for all-purpose yards set by Milburn in 1990, the same season Christian’s father, Ed, had 61 catches for the Cardinal.

He also topped Alabama’s previous season best of 1,679 yards rushing by Trent Richardson in 2011, and he now leads the country with 1,797 yards on the ground – 56 yards ahead of LSU’s Leonard Fournette – for the season. “Best player on the team”. For Stanford, the playoff hopes still remain, though they are slim. Todd Helton gets the job full-time and the Trojans will get another shot against Stanford for a chance to go to the Rose Bowl. I did this at first glance as well.

“Toward the beginning of the season, I kind of felt like we didn’t have an identity as a team”, he said. If he’s hurt, he’s going to play through it for the team. However, it was early in the season, and it may have been forgotten by this point as it was the first conference game for each team.

Pete Carroll used the draw of Los Angeles as his top recruiting tool during his legendary years as the Trojans coach. USC would lose its next two of three, including a home loss to Washington.

It is fitting Stanford is playing the Trojans for the Pac-12 crown.

USC has some momentum right now. “In Clay’s case there is exactness”, Haden said in a statement issued Monday morning.

Helton welcomed the parents back to practice and to team dinners. As our interim head coach, Clay brought back USC’s style of physical football.

Helton has been an assistant at USC since 2010.

Stanford will be a test for them, but it’s far from impossible. The Trojans have won the time-of-possession battle in each one of its last seven games, except at Colorado.

If Helton wins, though, he’ll become the fourth former assistant coach promoted to head coach to win the Pac-12 Championship Game.

The USC players were quarterback Matt Leinart; tailbacks Marcus Allen, O.J. Simpson, Charles White, Bush and Mike Garrett; wide receivers Keyshawn Johnson, Lynn Swann and Marqise Lee; tight end Charles Young; offensive linemen Ron Yary, Tony Boselli, Anthony Munoz and Brad Budde; defensive end Willie McGinest; defensive tackle Leonard Williams; linebackers Junior Seau, Richard Wood and Chris Claiborne; cornerback Joey Browner; strong safeties Troy Polamalu, Mark Carrier and Lott. They showed up in a big way on a big stage.

USC and Stanford ended the season with fairly similar numbers. It seems like in sports, this is always one of those things we talk about, and it is a hard thing to do.

It’s going to be a great championship game when these two teams face off. And though Stanford is a very good team, USC isn’t going down without a fight. Oh and yes, we have one more final prediction for the season.

First off, this decision came just two days after USC’s 40-21 victory over UCLA to finish the regular season. Saturday’s battle between these perennial conference heavyweights has the potential to be a tremendous game, but I feel certain the conference seat of power will return to the North for its eighth straight year.

The players are on the highest of emotional highs right now after hiring the coach that they’ve played their hearts out for over the last few weeks, and they’re going to be out for blood against the team that ousted them from the playoff conversation so unceremoniously that week in September.

After that column appeared, the Trojans lost by 20 points to OR and those words were questioned.

Clay Helton has twice taken charge of the Southern California football program in moments of crisis and steadied it with calm leadership.