USC Football Mailbag: How Would USC Fare vs. Alabama Now?

How would the Trojans fare against Alabama if they played this week? Has Clay Helton successfully saved his job?…Our weekly USC football mailbag seeks the answers.

Coming off of a major upset over Washington, USC football is feeling confident with a six-game winning streak under their belts. The Reign of Troy mailbag this week looks at the ramifications of that victory and upcoming match ups.

If you have a question for the mailbag, send it in to @ReignOfTroy on Twitter or via email to reignoftroy@fansided.com.

Let’s get started:

Does this win mean Helton keeps the job?— Future Hive

After beating Oregon and becoming bowl eligible, it was highly unlikely that Clay Helton would be let go after the season. Reasons for this include that he was having a big turnaround, he is a first-year coach, and he has a star in Sam Darnold.

Beating Washington, the then-No. 4 team in the country in their own stadium proved that Helton has grown into this role and should have the benefit of the doubt for the remainder of this season and the beginning of next season.

For the Helton skeptics, it is true that we do not know if Helton will be the coach that can take USC to the promised land year after year. But, he showed with his improvement as coach from September until now that he has a chance.

What is the gameplan for next week’s game against UCLA?— T.K. Summers

UCLA has a good defense, but an atrocious offense.

The good news for USC is that UCLA’s offense likely will not be on the field that much giving Darnold plenty of opportunities to find the end zone.

The bad news is that it won’t be simple to find the end zone in this game, at least not to the extent it was against Oregon or Cal.

Look for USC to run the ball to set up the pass, and Darnold to look for the tight ends in the red zone. If the USC defense plays half-way decent, they should come out of this game 8-3.

Why doesn’t SC have or use a heavy package for 3rd and 1?— RxDocta

That is a very good question.

The two most likely reasons are that Tee Martin,as a first-year offensive coordinator, did not install one. More likely though is that heavy packages work best with a big, powerful running back, and USC does not have one on the roster.

If USC finds a way to land Najee Harris, we may see a package next season.

More from Reign of Troy

• Five USC football recruiting stories to watch for on Early Signing Day for 2021
• USC football’s playoff hopes sorely hurt by latest College Football Playoff ranking
• 3 biggest takeaways from USC football’s win over UCLA
• USC football to play Oregon in Pac-12 Championship Game with Washington out
• USC football’s postgame locker room after beating UCLA was absolutely lit (Video)

How do you think we’d do if we were to play Alabama next week?— octrojanman

Tough question.

While USC has gotten better, Alabama has also. Jalen Hurts is proving he belongs, and the offense is really progressing. The defense they have is just as suffocating as it was in Week 1.

USC would have a better chance if they played now, and it would not be out of the question for them to upset Alabama, but I would not bet on it.

At the very least, I doubt USC would get blown out and embarrassed like they did in Dallas.