Clay Helton
On the loss ...
"We made enough mistakes tonight against a top-10 team that you can't win a ball game, can't turn it over four times and have the penalties that we had and play that not-clean of football game and expect to beat that team. Not our night. As I told the group in there, we'll come back to work on Monday and get ready for Arizona State."
On the turning point ...
"We get up 10-0 and got the opportunity to really jump ahead, and we end up getting a redzone turnover. In that second quarter, there was just a couple things that went against us -- a pick-6 happens and you can't do those things against that football team. They're a quality football team, very well coached, and tonight we just didn't execute like I know we can."
On whether there was any thought to squibbing the kickoff with 20 seconds left in the first half ...
"Alex has been known here to kick it out of the end zone, and we discussed -- Bax and I talked -- and we trust Alex and he kicked a good ball. He kicked plenty of height, the ball was deep enough. Just, we didn't get the ball down. That was probably another mistake in that second quarter that you look up and you were 4 points down and you end up going to halftime 11 [down]."
On why he believes he is the right coach to lead USC moving forward ...
"You know, I've been here 10 years and I believe in being a servant to this university and to the young men that are here," Helton responded. "Each and every day I wake up and represent them and our school, and I will continue to do that each and every day. I'll fight like hell with the people that I believe in and the people that I love, until they ask me not to do it anymore. I'm going to show up on Monday and work my butt off for the next one. That's what coaches do. That's what ball coaches are, and I'll continue to do the only thing I know, which is to fight."
On whether Helton felt he had to win Saturday night for the sake of his job ...
"I've never thought about [that]. The guys that I think about are the guys that are beside me and that are in that locker room. That's what I feel, is I'm trying to help them win a championship, our staff is trying to help them win a championship and I love them," he said. "Every one in that locker room I've signed, I've been in their living room. I love them like sons. I'm not worried about me. I've coached and played enough ball for 10 lifetimes. I'm worried about helping them win a Pac-12 South championship and trying to get a Pac-12 championship. Whatever is written is already written. God already has that plan. Until then, I'm going to dang fight and help them to win the Pac-12 South. We're in a hole right now. We've got to do our job and win the next three games and hope for a little help."
On no longer being in control of path to Pac-12 title game ...
"You go to the next game just like we've done. We've got to play an Arizona State team that has had a week off and they're in preparation for us, so we've got to get back to work tomorrow immediately. They're at home with a talented offense, and we've got to go back and clean up the things that we did today and be ready to win the next one. That's all we can do -- and hope for a little luck. We're sitting here with two losses right now in the Pac-12 South, Utah's got one, and we'll need a little help. All we can focus on is us and doing our job. And our job is in Arizona next week and that's what we'll do."
On punting in Oregon territory late in the third quarter ...
"It was fourth-and-14 … so I decided to punt them deep, and I think we pinned them on the 7 yard line that time."
On Kedon Slovis' performance ...
"What I told him on the sideline, he's a special player. We have special quarterbacks here, and part of playing quarterback is getting to learn from each rep and each experience. Some are good and some are bad, but you get to learn from them. This guy's going to be playing football for a long time, a long time. He's very talented, and tonight was just another learning lesson that quarterbacks learn from. What I like is how he executed on that last drive. That's what I thanked him for and thanked those kids who went out there. Those kids never quit fighting. They never quit fighting. … Mark my words, he's going to be a really special player."
On the emotional toll of a loss like this ...
"I just told them in the locker room, one of the things if nothing else comes from this is a great life lesson. I said I know everyone one of us feel bad in here right now, but the world doesn't care about our feelings or us feeling sorry for ourselves. The world cares about you getting back up and doing your job. For 18-21 year olds, it's hard because they pour so much into it. The amount of time they spend to get to Saturday, it's hard when this happens, but that's life. Sometimes life isn't fair. The way we react as coaches being the example hopefully rubs off on them that in real life it's not what happens to you -- it's how you react to things."
On why the team hasn't executed consistently this season ...
"I think a little bit of youth, a little bit of injury and we played some good ball clubs too. Give them credit too. That's a good team out there, and we made enough mistakes tonight to let it snowball. So it's my job as their coach to clean it up and go on and move on to the next game."
On how it turned ...
"Really our redzone efficiency. We take the first drive down and it's 7-0 and we get a nice turnover that you hope that turns into 14-0, but we end up kicking a field goal out of it. And then we've got another opportunity to get down there and we end up having a fumble, but I thought the opportunities to be able to put hopefully 11 more points on the board in that first half was critical. We just didn't get it done."
QB Kedon Slovis
On the toll of the early turnovers ...
"I don't think it necessarily affected my decision-making process throughout the game, my reads. You can't commit turnovers like that, but sometimes it happens -- you've just got to move on, play the next play."
On the talk about Helton's future impacting the players ...
"We don't listen to outside noise, we just move on to next game and next play really. That's our mentality and we're going to continue to do that."
LB John Houston
On whether he felt he was playing for his coach's job ...
"For me, I'm playing for my teammates, for everybody in that locker room, just for ourselves, trying to get ourselves better, not worrying about the outside factors or any outside talk. Just worrying about how we can do better as a whole unit and be better each and every game."
On what changed after the first quarter ...
"I would say more of the penalties. We had more penalties -- that was a big part of them to keep driving, continuing drives and just being able to keep on the field. So yeah, penalties really just killed us."
C Brett Neilon
On what changed after the first quarter ...
"I just think down the line we didn't execute at all as an offense, and I'm not going to sugarcoat it -- we had turnovers that killed us. We just didn't get it done tonight."
On whether he felt a turning point ...
"Obviously the redzone turnover, the fumble, and then they got the kickoff touchdown. That's super tough for them to score back-to-back really close, and you're just kind of salty that you could have had 7 and it could have been a totally different ballgame. Yeah, that stung. I mean, there's no sugarcoating it. We just didn't get it done, and we made some mistakes that lost us the game."
On making sense of Oregon's 56-7 run ...
"Yeah, I mean obviously the redzone turnover really hurt and for them to score on that and get a kickoff return touchdown after that and the pick-6 -- oh yeah, I forgot about the pick-6. It just added up real quick. It was like a blitzkrieg, honestly. Yeah, we made critical mistakes that killed us."
On the rest of the season ...
"We still have a lot to play for and we've still got to keep fighting and finish out the season and get to a bowl game and what not. We've just got to come together and keep fighting and play."
On whether they've felt they were playing for Helton's job ...
"We just go out every night and keep competing. I think the offense, we go out there and keep competing and fighting no matter what."
On whether Helton is the right man for the job ...
"Coach Helton's a great coach and he's good for players, and we all love him and we're going to keep fighting."
On learning about the new AD hiring ...
"I actually found out through ESPN. They didn't really talk about it much, but yeah I'm happy with whoever … I can't wait to meet him and I'm sure he's going to be great for us and do the right things."
On the loss ...
"We made enough mistakes tonight against a top-10 team that you can't win a ball game, can't turn it over four times and have the penalties that we had and play that not-clean of football game and expect to beat that team. Not our night. As I told the group in there, we'll come back to work on Monday and get ready for Arizona State."
On the turning point ...
"We get up 10-0 and got the opportunity to really jump ahead, and we end up getting a redzone turnover. In that second quarter, there was just a couple things that went against us -- a pick-6 happens and you can't do those things against that football team. They're a quality football team, very well coached, and tonight we just didn't execute like I know we can."
On whether there was any thought to squibbing the kickoff with 20 seconds left in the first half ...
"Alex has been known here to kick it out of the end zone, and we discussed -- Bax and I talked -- and we trust Alex and he kicked a good ball. He kicked plenty of height, the ball was deep enough. Just, we didn't get the ball down. That was probably another mistake in that second quarter that you look up and you were 4 points down and you end up going to halftime 11 [down]."
On why he believes he is the right coach to lead USC moving forward ...
"You know, I've been here 10 years and I believe in being a servant to this university and to the young men that are here," Helton responded. "Each and every day I wake up and represent them and our school, and I will continue to do that each and every day. I'll fight like hell with the people that I believe in and the people that I love, until they ask me not to do it anymore. I'm going to show up on Monday and work my butt off for the next one. That's what coaches do. That's what ball coaches are, and I'll continue to do the only thing I know, which is to fight."
On whether Helton felt he had to win Saturday night for the sake of his job ...
"I've never thought about [that]. The guys that I think about are the guys that are beside me and that are in that locker room. That's what I feel, is I'm trying to help them win a championship, our staff is trying to help them win a championship and I love them," he said. "Every one in that locker room I've signed, I've been in their living room. I love them like sons. I'm not worried about me. I've coached and played enough ball for 10 lifetimes. I'm worried about helping them win a Pac-12 South championship and trying to get a Pac-12 championship. Whatever is written is already written. God already has that plan. Until then, I'm going to dang fight and help them to win the Pac-12 South. We're in a hole right now. We've got to do our job and win the next three games and hope for a little help."
On no longer being in control of path to Pac-12 title game ...
"You go to the next game just like we've done. We've got to play an Arizona State team that has had a week off and they're in preparation for us, so we've got to get back to work tomorrow immediately. They're at home with a talented offense, and we've got to go back and clean up the things that we did today and be ready to win the next one. That's all we can do -- and hope for a little luck. We're sitting here with two losses right now in the Pac-12 South, Utah's got one, and we'll need a little help. All we can focus on is us and doing our job. And our job is in Arizona next week and that's what we'll do."
On punting in Oregon territory late in the third quarter ...
"It was fourth-and-14 … so I decided to punt them deep, and I think we pinned them on the 7 yard line that time."
On Kedon Slovis' performance ...
"What I told him on the sideline, he's a special player. We have special quarterbacks here, and part of playing quarterback is getting to learn from each rep and each experience. Some are good and some are bad, but you get to learn from them. This guy's going to be playing football for a long time, a long time. He's very talented, and tonight was just another learning lesson that quarterbacks learn from. What I like is how he executed on that last drive. That's what I thanked him for and thanked those kids who went out there. Those kids never quit fighting. They never quit fighting. … Mark my words, he's going to be a really special player."
On the emotional toll of a loss like this ...
"I just told them in the locker room, one of the things if nothing else comes from this is a great life lesson. I said I know everyone one of us feel bad in here right now, but the world doesn't care about our feelings or us feeling sorry for ourselves. The world cares about you getting back up and doing your job. For 18-21 year olds, it's hard because they pour so much into it. The amount of time they spend to get to Saturday, it's hard when this happens, but that's life. Sometimes life isn't fair. The way we react as coaches being the example hopefully rubs off on them that in real life it's not what happens to you -- it's how you react to things."
On why the team hasn't executed consistently this season ...
"I think a little bit of youth, a little bit of injury and we played some good ball clubs too. Give them credit too. That's a good team out there, and we made enough mistakes tonight to let it snowball. So it's my job as their coach to clean it up and go on and move on to the next game."
On how it turned ...
"Really our redzone efficiency. We take the first drive down and it's 7-0 and we get a nice turnover that you hope that turns into 14-0, but we end up kicking a field goal out of it. And then we've got another opportunity to get down there and we end up having a fumble, but I thought the opportunities to be able to put hopefully 11 more points on the board in that first half was critical. We just didn't get it done."
QB Kedon Slovis
On the toll of the early turnovers ...
"I don't think it necessarily affected my decision-making process throughout the game, my reads. You can't commit turnovers like that, but sometimes it happens -- you've just got to move on, play the next play."
On the talk about Helton's future impacting the players ...
"We don't listen to outside noise, we just move on to next game and next play really. That's our mentality and we're going to continue to do that."
LB John Houston
On whether he felt he was playing for his coach's job ...
"For me, I'm playing for my teammates, for everybody in that locker room, just for ourselves, trying to get ourselves better, not worrying about the outside factors or any outside talk. Just worrying about how we can do better as a whole unit and be better each and every game."
On what changed after the first quarter ...
"I would say more of the penalties. We had more penalties -- that was a big part of them to keep driving, continuing drives and just being able to keep on the field. So yeah, penalties really just killed us."
C Brett Neilon
On what changed after the first quarter ...
"I just think down the line we didn't execute at all as an offense, and I'm not going to sugarcoat it -- we had turnovers that killed us. We just didn't get it done tonight."
On whether he felt a turning point ...
"Obviously the redzone turnover, the fumble, and then they got the kickoff touchdown. That's super tough for them to score back-to-back really close, and you're just kind of salty that you could have had 7 and it could have been a totally different ballgame. Yeah, that stung. I mean, there's no sugarcoating it. We just didn't get it done, and we made some mistakes that lost us the game."
On making sense of Oregon's 56-7 run ...
"Yeah, I mean obviously the redzone turnover really hurt and for them to score on that and get a kickoff return touchdown after that and the pick-6 -- oh yeah, I forgot about the pick-6. It just added up real quick. It was like a blitzkrieg, honestly. Yeah, we made critical mistakes that killed us."
On the rest of the season ...
"We still have a lot to play for and we've still got to keep fighting and finish out the season and get to a bowl game and what not. We've just got to come together and keep fighting and play."
On whether they've felt they were playing for Helton's job ...
"We just go out every night and keep competing. I think the offense, we go out there and keep competing and fighting no matter what."
On whether Helton is the right man for the job ...
"Coach Helton's a great coach and he's good for players, and we all love him and we're going to keep fighting."
On learning about the new AD hiring ...
"I actually found out through ESPN. They didn't really talk about it much, but yeah I'm happy with whoever … I can't wait to meet him and I'm sure he's going to be great for us and do the right things."
