2016 USC Football: Defining success for Clay Helton and the Trojans

suc·cess
səkˈses/
"The accomplishment of an aim or purpose".

For USC Football in 2016, the definition of success will have many parts to it. For Clay Helton, it is likely to be much smaller in scope, and with a sense of urgency his career has never known.

In division I college football, success, especially for a head coach, is measured in a relatively simple metric; wins and losses. On campuses all over the country, and in conferences we see on television every fall, it gets no simpler than that. In college towns like Ames, IA or Lawrence, KS - wins, both moral and otherwise, can easily enough define success for a head football coach. In those towns, on those campuses, the wider scope of success is much easier to measure.

And much friendlier.

Not so much in Los Angeles, and not at USC.

Let's not make any mistake in how Trojan football is measured. Wins and losses are one thing. Winning conference titles, Rose Bowls, and National Championships are another. Moral victories, and feel good stories are nice, but those are side pieces measured in minimal column inches of the LA Times.

You know what feels good at USC; Winning.

And a lot of it.

The feel good story, and likely the honeymoon ended for Clay Helton last season in San Diego, when Wisconsin held off a late rally by his USC team to lose 23-21. A season that was measured in equal parts by promise, dysfunction, and redemption. A nice story that had all the indications of a team and season gone sideways, but was righted by an AD in Pat Haden, who hopes he finally gets one right.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I did not like this hire. It felt a combination of many things; a hand forced, some hope, and fingers crossed at the eventual presser. Maybe I'm wrong, but Helton seemed like a guy who was, and may ultimately be, ‘not ready for prime-time', and at the very least, a course correction to a program gone completely off the grid.

And that's the point.

USC can't go "off the grid". It can't "go quiet".

The University of Southern California Trojans ARE the signature team of the Pac-12, AND the flagship program after those in the top tier of the SEC. With all due respect to Texas and Oklahoma, its USC Football that counts most once west of the Mississippi.

It's also where *7 Heisman Trophies reside, and 11 National Championships.

For those keeping score in Norman, OK, that's 2 more Heisman Trophies and 4 more National Championships than the Sooners. In Austin, that's +5 in the Heismans' and a whopping 7 more National Titles than the Longhorns.

Respectfully, of course.

And that IS the point - it's winning; winning the Pac-12 South, and the Pac-12 Championship.

It's Rose Bowls, not Holiday Bowls.

And it's Heisman Trophies.

And yes, National Championships.

The feel good story a season ago, the relief of an 8-6 record pulled from a fire that threatened to be much worse, wrapped up down the I-5 at Qualcomm Stadium, a loss mind you, to Wisconsin last season.

What a difference an off-season makes.

Fair?

Likely not.

Clay Helton now has the keys to the car that is USC football. It's his show now, and the "cover" of the interim tag is gone. "Feel good" and morale victories need not apply.

suc·cess
səkˈses/
"The accomplishment of an aim or purpose".

At USC, the clock will tick a bit faster for Clay Helton. As he goes, so will his Trojan football team. The bright lights of the premier college football program west of the Mississippi burn brighter and hotter on this campus than any other. Success in 2016 will need to be better that 8-6 and a trip to San Diego. After all, this isn't football in Ames, IA or Lawrence, KS.

In Los Angeles, success is defined much differently.