USC loss to Oregon moves Trojans close to end of Clay Helton, start of Urban Meyer era
USC suffered another ugly loss but the silver lining is it’s one day closer to the end of the Clay Helton era, and potentially the beginning of the Urban Meyer era.
USC lost again. This time, it was Oregon who did the Trojans in after the Ducks defense was dynamite vs. Kedon Slovis and USC defense and special teams had no answer to what Oregon threw at them.
There were a few moments in the first quarter when the game was there for the taking for USC but despite Oregon keeping the door open and giving them opportunities to take control of the game, the Trojans couldn’t deliver. This is going on Clay Helton’s tombstone when he is fired by USC which practically everyone in college football expects to happen at the end of the year.
While losing in an ugly fashion to Oregon on national TV in primetime is enough to give USC fans a stomach ache, consider it a blessing in disguise because it’s one less game you’ll have to see Helton languishing on the sidelines with a disheveled look on his face wondering how another game got away from him.
Unfortunately, that’s what this season has come down to for USC. The first College Football Playoff rankings haven’t been released but the season’s been over for USC for a long time. It’s also been a long time that Helton has been a dead coach walking and almost as long that Urban Meyer is the No. 1 target to replace him.
That rumor became closer to a reality when USC locked in on Cincinnati Athletic Director Mike Bohn and his primary job is to seal the deal to get Meyer to L.A. Losses like the one USC had on Saturday vs. Oregon are painful moments in the interim, but in the long run, it’s what had to happen to move on from Helton.
The final month of the season will be tough to watch. It’ll be full of looking at the development of underclassmen, none more important than Slovis, who has flashed how special he can be with proper coaching and development. The rumor mill will continue to churn over the next few weeks, but there will be a happy ending at the end of this miserable season.
A December press conference to introduce Urban Meyer as the new USC football coach would be better than anything they can find under the Christmas tree this winter.
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