Reggie Bush gets what’s wrong with USC football but the fix isn’t coming

Reggie Bush laid out what’s wrong with USC football under Clay Helton. Unfortunately, there’s no reason to expect a fix this season.

Everyone knows Clay Helton is on the hot seat. He’s in charge of the most prestigious football program in the west and hasn’t won the Pac-12 since 2017.

Reggie Bush knows what USC is like at its best. He is keenly aware that the Trojans haven’t come close to meeting expectations in a while.

Patrick Schmidt of FanSided recently spoke to the Trojan Heisman Trophy winner, hitting on the biggest issue facing USC this year: Finding a way to return to college football prominence.

Trojan fans, by and large, view head coach Clay Helton as the biggest barrier to that goal.

Reggie Bush: Clay Helton has to be better this year

Asked if he trusts Helton to take things to the next level, Bush went the diplomatic route.

“Clay Helton has to be better this year,” he said.

What he didn’t say speaks volumes because, at this point, how can you trust Helton? USC has been in living a Groundhog’s Day scenario for years. They’ve been just good enough for Helton to keep his job and just bad enough for the journey to be miserable.

Bush hit on that problem when he talked about what needs to change for USC to get back to a championship level.

“It starts and it ends with winning. So whatever they were doing in the past, they’re going to have to change,” Bush said. “That’s the thing about losing is you’re supposed to learn from it. Right? Every loss is only a loss if you view it as a loss. But if you actually are able to take away the things that you need to correct from those games, then the loss is not just a loss. You’re turning that into something more powerful that’s going to help you win.”

USC has yet to prove they can learn from their mistakes under Helton.

Every narrower-than-it-should-be win has followed the same template. Every loss has featured familiar issues. Entire seasons have felt like living in the same loop of mediocrity.

Bush highlighted some of the things the Trojans need to fix. They need a more balanced attack with a more reliable run game to sustain drives longer. They need to take the pressure off the defense.

USC has never lacked talented running backs (though injuries have never been far away for that unit). The failure of the run game is twofold, including an unwillingness to run and losing the battle in the trenches.

It’s been far too long since USC had an offensive line capable of dictating the game through the air or on the ground. Their run schemes have been atrocious.

Evidence of that changing is nonexistent. New offensive line coach Clay McGuire is an Air Raid disciple of Mike Leach. The run game isn’t going to suddenly come to life this year.

More concerning still, keeping Kedon Slovis’ jersey clean is no certainty. Four starters on the offensive line are back this season, but the best of last year’s unit is now in the NFL. Both tackles will be first-year starters. The unit as a whole hasn’t earned any benefit of the doubt.

That’s the sad truth for USC. The start of a new season always brings along new sources of optimism. If you focus on Slovis or Drake London hard enough, you can convince yourself things will be okay. However, the core deficiencies with the Trojan program are a cloud just waiting to block out that Southern California sunshine.

Bush proclaims optimism as well, saying USC has the right pieces to make things interesting this season. Helton has to put them together.

“Listen, I don’t have to be the judge over Clay Helton because time will tell. Time is going to tell if they’re getting better or they’re getting worse. There’s no in-between in this game. You don’t just stay the same. You’re either getting better or you’re getting worse,” Bush said. “USC can do a better job this year. I think they will. And I can’t wait to see it. I’m excited.”

The trouble for USC is “can” and “will” are tough to align.

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