The Trojans are surely watching plenty of film on upcoming opponent BYU this week, and of course they've broken down their own performance from that 45-20 win over Stanford last Saturday.
But USC coach Clay Helton also wanted to show his players something he felt was just as important.
"It's time for us now to show maturity. … We're not here to win one big game -- we're here to have a great season and it takes one week at a time," Helton said Tuesday after practice.
"I even showed last week's preparation, last week's practice today in the team meeting. I literally showed clips of 'This is how you won that game. You won it on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.' And they did a great job today."
RELATED: Clay Helton reacts to AD Lynn Swann's exit and how he learned the news
A lot more eyes are on USC (2-0) this week, as it moved back into the national rankings at No. 24 heading into its first road game of the fall at BYU (1-1) on Saturday night. The Trojans scored the final 35 points and kept Stanford scoreless over the final two and a half quarters of this latest win -- exerting a level of command over a game that was not seen at any point last season.
More specifically, the spotlight will be on true freshman quarterback Kedon Slovis, who created national buzz while completing 28 of 33 passes for 377 yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions in his first collegiate start.
Slovis was asked about that reality that he won't be able to surprise anyone this week and that BYU will be scheming for him in a way that Stanford wasn't able to before his first start.
"You can't really go out thinking about that. You just go out and play football," Slovis said is his typical concise and matter-of-fact manner.
But every different test Slovis faces this season is for the first time. The season opener was his introduction to college football. The Stanford game was his first start and first time having to rally a team back from an early deficit. This is his first road game and first time being a known entity to the opponent. With every new test comes a new gauge, something new to be learned about the freshman signal-caller.
But to be honest, Slovis has given no evidence that his heart rate ever rises or that any of those aforementioned factors mean anything different to him at all.
"I think he's handled it great. I've watched him do two press conferences now and he always talks about other folks. He talks about how well the offensive line did, how easy is it to make plays as a quarterback when you've got these wideouts around you. I've been thoroughly impressed with his maturity, not only in his preparation but his execution on game day and how he handles the limelight," Helton said.
"He's always been a very humble kid, and that's part of being a USC quarterback is the intangibles that come with that position. … You are the face of a program, and he's handled it very well."
It's hard to say that this storyline is going to lose any luster the more time passes. It's too rich, too compelling. Even though it feels almost unfair to mention at this point, it adds to the context to keep reiterating that Slovis was a largely overlooked 3-star prospect whom most would have expected six months ago to be buried down the depth chart.
Instead, he's the reigning Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week after his first start. Stories like his are what make college football special. But this one is still in the very early chapters and he will have to prove it again -- prove that those aforementioned new factors are indeed no big deal for the poised 18-year-old.
To that point, the coaching staff has been emphasizing its message all week that the Trojans have to go prove it again. That their story collectively -- what this season can be -- is also in the very early stages.
"The reason why I think we played as well as we did at times was because we practiced, we prepared the right way. You can't get complacent, you can't ever let that change," offensive coordinator Graham Harrell said. "The way you prepare all week is going to be the way you play on Saturday, so that's been the message all week."
More on Kedon Slovis' strong first start
After the game Saturday night, Harrell commented that he was most impressed by Slovis' decision-making -- that on seemingly each play, where he thought the ball should go is where Slovis put it.
He expounded Tuesday about Slovis' ability to keep his eyes focused downfield and go through his progressions.
"I think most quarterbacks that's either natural or unnatural to you. I think that's something that you can talk with them a lot obviously on, you can try to work with them on through drill work -- that's something we emphasize in our drill work -- but when the bullets are flying you kind of either got it or your don't," Harrell said. "And he did a nice job of keeping his eyes downfield always.
"And what I think he did a better job of, when he didn't have anything, just taking off, getting [a few] yards and getting down and not making a big mistake. There were a couple practices I can think of in camp where things started to break down, he kind of scrambles and he leaves one in the middle of the field that gets intercepted. He didn't do that the other day and he has to continue to do that."
Meanwhile, Helton was asked if USC using so many four-wide and even at times five-wide looks early in the game -- in contrast to the previous week -- was a concerted show of confidence in the freshman QB.
"No question. I told you earlier in the week we were going to be wide open, let it be, let the kid go play and let the offense be what it is," Helton said. "… So yeah, we were empty play one and that was just a statement of, 'All right, let's go boys.'"
Said Slovis: "That's all you can ask for as a quarterback."
As Helton noted, Slovis was again very deferential, saying his high completion percentage was a product of his receivers -- not him (even though one could also argue that 1-2 of his incompletions could have also been caught.)
"More than anything he did a nice job taking care of the football. With the weapons you have around you, and that's what I talked to him a lot about since that game, is if you just do the easy things well, the spectacular things happen because you've got great players around you," Harrell said. "A lot of the stuff he did was do the easy things well."
Over and over and over again with a few less-than-easy completions mixed in as well, to be fair. But the message Harrell wants to convey to his QB is understandable -- he doesn't have to carry the burden for this offense all on his shoulders, not with the supporting cast around him.
Notes ...
Helton wasn't asked for any injury updates because a large chunk of his media availability Tuesday involved talking about athletic director Lynn Swann's departure. Read about that here.
The one injury of note this week is defensive end Christian Rector's ankle, which Helton described as a minor injury that resulted in him being pulled late in the game Saturday. Rector was in full pads Tuesday, but he was either standing with the other injured players or riding the stationary bike during the 20 minutes of practice open to reporters, so it's unclear his full participation level.
But USC coach Clay Helton also wanted to show his players something he felt was just as important.
"It's time for us now to show maturity. … We're not here to win one big game -- we're here to have a great season and it takes one week at a time," Helton said Tuesday after practice.
"I even showed last week's preparation, last week's practice today in the team meeting. I literally showed clips of 'This is how you won that game. You won it on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.' And they did a great job today."
RELATED: Clay Helton reacts to AD Lynn Swann's exit and how he learned the news
A lot more eyes are on USC (2-0) this week, as it moved back into the national rankings at No. 24 heading into its first road game of the fall at BYU (1-1) on Saturday night. The Trojans scored the final 35 points and kept Stanford scoreless over the final two and a half quarters of this latest win -- exerting a level of command over a game that was not seen at any point last season.
More specifically, the spotlight will be on true freshman quarterback Kedon Slovis, who created national buzz while completing 28 of 33 passes for 377 yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions in his first collegiate start.
Slovis was asked about that reality that he won't be able to surprise anyone this week and that BYU will be scheming for him in a way that Stanford wasn't able to before his first start.
"You can't really go out thinking about that. You just go out and play football," Slovis said is his typical concise and matter-of-fact manner.
But every different test Slovis faces this season is for the first time. The season opener was his introduction to college football. The Stanford game was his first start and first time having to rally a team back from an early deficit. This is his first road game and first time being a known entity to the opponent. With every new test comes a new gauge, something new to be learned about the freshman signal-caller.
But to be honest, Slovis has given no evidence that his heart rate ever rises or that any of those aforementioned factors mean anything different to him at all.
"I think he's handled it great. I've watched him do two press conferences now and he always talks about other folks. He talks about how well the offensive line did, how easy is it to make plays as a quarterback when you've got these wideouts around you. I've been thoroughly impressed with his maturity, not only in his preparation but his execution on game day and how he handles the limelight," Helton said.
"He's always been a very humble kid, and that's part of being a USC quarterback is the intangibles that come with that position. … You are the face of a program, and he's handled it very well."
It's hard to say that this storyline is going to lose any luster the more time passes. It's too rich, too compelling. Even though it feels almost unfair to mention at this point, it adds to the context to keep reiterating that Slovis was a largely overlooked 3-star prospect whom most would have expected six months ago to be buried down the depth chart.
Instead, he's the reigning Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week after his first start. Stories like his are what make college football special. But this one is still in the very early chapters and he will have to prove it again -- prove that those aforementioned new factors are indeed no big deal for the poised 18-year-old.
To that point, the coaching staff has been emphasizing its message all week that the Trojans have to go prove it again. That their story collectively -- what this season can be -- is also in the very early stages.
"The reason why I think we played as well as we did at times was because we practiced, we prepared the right way. You can't get complacent, you can't ever let that change," offensive coordinator Graham Harrell said. "The way you prepare all week is going to be the way you play on Saturday, so that's been the message all week."
More on Kedon Slovis' strong first start
After the game Saturday night, Harrell commented that he was most impressed by Slovis' decision-making -- that on seemingly each play, where he thought the ball should go is where Slovis put it.
He expounded Tuesday about Slovis' ability to keep his eyes focused downfield and go through his progressions.
"I think most quarterbacks that's either natural or unnatural to you. I think that's something that you can talk with them a lot obviously on, you can try to work with them on through drill work -- that's something we emphasize in our drill work -- but when the bullets are flying you kind of either got it or your don't," Harrell said. "And he did a nice job of keeping his eyes downfield always.
"And what I think he did a better job of, when he didn't have anything, just taking off, getting [a few] yards and getting down and not making a big mistake. There were a couple practices I can think of in camp where things started to break down, he kind of scrambles and he leaves one in the middle of the field that gets intercepted. He didn't do that the other day and he has to continue to do that."
Meanwhile, Helton was asked if USC using so many four-wide and even at times five-wide looks early in the game -- in contrast to the previous week -- was a concerted show of confidence in the freshman QB.
"No question. I told you earlier in the week we were going to be wide open, let it be, let the kid go play and let the offense be what it is," Helton said. "… So yeah, we were empty play one and that was just a statement of, 'All right, let's go boys.'"
Said Slovis: "That's all you can ask for as a quarterback."
As Helton noted, Slovis was again very deferential, saying his high completion percentage was a product of his receivers -- not him (even though one could also argue that 1-2 of his incompletions could have also been caught.)
"More than anything he did a nice job taking care of the football. With the weapons you have around you, and that's what I talked to him a lot about since that game, is if you just do the easy things well, the spectacular things happen because you've got great players around you," Harrell said. "A lot of the stuff he did was do the easy things well."
Over and over and over again with a few less-than-easy completions mixed in as well, to be fair. But the message Harrell wants to convey to his QB is understandable -- he doesn't have to carry the burden for this offense all on his shoulders, not with the supporting cast around him.
Notes ...
Helton wasn't asked for any injury updates because a large chunk of his media availability Tuesday involved talking about athletic director Lynn Swann's departure. Read about that here.
The one injury of note this week is defensive end Christian Rector's ankle, which Helton described as a minor injury that resulted in him being pulled late in the game Saturday. Rector was in full pads Tuesday, but he was either standing with the other injured players or riding the stationary bike during the 20 minutes of practice open to reporters, so it's unclear his full participation level.
