Here are Clay Helton's full comments from the weekly Pac-12 coaches teleconference on Tuesday morning:
Does your approach to game-planning for Bryce Love change at all given his quiet season debut?
"I think anytime that you're playing Stanford first-down efficiency is so important because they can live in that third-and-1 to [third-and-3] world, and they're the best at it in college football, I think, in short-yardage situations. So stopping the run on early down and distances is imperative. It's one of the reasons that we were successful in our last two meetings is the ability to be successful on first down and holding up against the run. It's always pretty important when we play Stanford, especially with the talent of a guy like Bryce. He's not only one of the more talented backs in our league, he's one of the most talented backs in the country."
Were there any differences you saw in Stanford's offense from the two QBs they used last season to K.J. Costello as the starter this year?
"I think K.J. has made them extremely dangerous. K.J. does an absolutely great job of diagnosing where the one-on-one matchup is to these big wideouts, to have a JJ Arcega-Whiteside, to have Colby Parkinson, to have the experience of Trenton Irwin, he has been able to find the one-on-one matchup and he gives his [receivers] the opportunity and chances for big plays. That's what really has changed I've seen over the last year since Coach Shaw introduced K.J. to the offense is they are truly balanced now. You have to both stop the run as well as the deep ball opportunities that they provide. I'm proud of K.J. I recruited him in high school and to watch him grow under Coach Shaw has been neat to see. He's turned into a really good college football player."
Does Arcega-Whiteside remind you of any of the wide receivers you've coached at USC?
"He's a different body type. A really big man that has tremendous high-ball skills. He's one of those guys as you saw last week, San Diego State was committed to loading the box, stopping the run and putting their corners on an island. And when you have JJ out there, I thought they did a great job of just putting the ball up and giving him a chance to make a play. The guys that we've had in the past here, that 6-foot, 6-foot-1 athlete, I think of Robert Woods, Marqise Lee, Nelson Agholor, JuJu Smith[-Schuster], Deontay Burnett, this is a big man, this is a bigger receiver right now. The closest thing that we have right now is kind of like a Michael Pittman that has those high-ball skills and that big play capability deep. But he's a special talent, one of the reasons he's one of the best in our league."
What do you think you'll learn about your team the next two weeks going on the road to Stanford and Texas?
"I think, one, defensively we've got experience on the defensive side of the ball, I think some kids that have had the opportunity to play Stanford before and they understand the importance of getting the run stopped to be able to give you a chance to come out successful. So I look forward to seeing how we hold up in the run game defensively. Offensively, I look forward to getting more experience for our young quarterback and some young offensive players that really had their first game experience last week and I thought handled it very well. Now we go to an on-the-road hostile atmosphere in a big Pac-12 Conference game and it's going to be fun to see how they react. I hope they react with the same maturity that they did last week."
What's your message for JT Daniels this week?
"Just don't overthink things, take what the defense gives you, do what he did last week. I thought he did a great job of distributing the ball to eight different receivers, really only had one forced throw out of the 35 opportunities that he had and just really took what the defense gave him. When he saw shots and saw the one-on-one matchups, he took them. If it wasn't there, he checked the ball down. Those are the things that you have to do. Now when you talk about going to play a Stanford team that limits possessions, he can't make the critical errors at the quarterback position, so don't try to force things, let it come to you naturally. They'll be big-play opportunities -- when they're there pull the trigger, and when they're not check the ball down."
The Pac-12 is expanding its initiatives to shorten game times this year. How did you feel about the shorter halftime and how did shortening the game impact your job?
"We actually had one last week. We'll have four opportunities to have 15-minute halves this year, our first one was last week. I didn't feel too much of a change when we got in, had the availability to make adjustments, to communicate that to our offensive and defensive players and then re-enter the field of play. So I didn't feel too much change, to be honest with you. Most of the time I don't worry about things I can't control, and if the conference or NCAA says, 'Hey, we're going to this model,' then you adjust as coaches. But with our first time out, I didn't feel too much of a difference. We were able to get the same things done as far as diagnosing what happened in the first half, the adjustments we wanted to make, communicating those to the players and then getting back out on the field."
